Dear Editor,

Fifty years ago, Rev. Martin Luther King Junior led the “March on Washington” from Selma and began a speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

He spoke about racism and the freedom America preached but did not provide to all its citizens. It was with this speech, standing in front of the man who gave it a reason, that times began to change and reform to the national freedom it is now.
In my opinion, though we have excelled in eliminating racism, it has not been completed. As a quote “person of color,” I am judged by stereotypes because of my skin color.
Skin color is not even that. We are not different colors, each person has different levels of melanin (a skin pigment that protects the body from harmful sun rays), and the more you have, the darker your body’s exterior.

So basically, we are all still the same. Scientifically, we are all the same. But in reality we are not, and we may never be able to change that.
Is racism still out there? Yes. I live close to the city that was referred to as the most racist city in the nation. I know racism, but thankfully not on the same scale as black people were fifty years ago.

Judgment is inevitable, no matter the reason. Even the colorblind can still see black and white. It is life, and all that we with more melanin can do is stand up and prove them wrong.

Kemesor Mejeidu

Pelham