My entire life I have lived in places where my race was/is the minority. In middle school, I didn’t have one friend because of my skin color. When I was in high school, a few people were able to look past my skin color and we became my friends. Even now, in college, my race is still the minority, but throughout my life I have learned a very important lesson.

I developed quiet resentment because of all the racism I had endured, and remember what it felt like to feel that hate growing inside me. When you are a child, bullying is internalized. I believed I wasn’t good enough, as if there was something wrong with me for having white skin. But as I’ve entered college, I’ve become surrounded with people that are serious about work and studying, people befriended me without first judging me for my skin color.. It was at this time that I began to question my hate, which was when I came to a realization that has changed my life.

Through being in the minority, I’ve come to know what it feels like to be hated strictly on the basis of skin color. I’ve felt discrimination on a deep level, and there came a time where I had to decide if I was going to let it eat at me and make me bitter, or make me stronger. This entire experience has made me stronger because I have grown to develop empathy for minorities. It is minorities that need to be stood up for, that need a voice. And when safe, it is important to stand up for those in the minority, and speak out against people who try criticize them. Make the world a safer place for minorities.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it—always.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Does this still mean we have to stand up, take action, and fight for justice? Absolutely.