It's amazing how perception can cloud our judgement, isn't it?

We see the world in our own way, so that must be the way it is. If someone sees it differently, they are ignorant and a liar.

The other day I saw a vine. In it, two black teenaged boys were walking down a street when they see a policecar in the distance. One quickly orders the other one to hide and when his friend asks why, the boy replies "Because we're black, man!"

This was obviously meant to send a message in relation to the events in Ferguson, Missouri last summer.

I was not there and no one I know and trust personally was there, so I will not give any input as to what I believe happened. If I wanted to write about Ferguson, I would have done so many months ago. No, I mean to address something else.

Racism.

When did racism begin? We will never know, but the fact remains that most people believe that it exists and thrives.

Some say that if everyone's skin was orange and their hair was green, we would be racist towards people with crooked teeth.
Still more say that racism is the current manifestation of an instinctual drive within humans that has existed since the first one evolved: the drive and the need to identify oneself as a member of a particular group or tribe.
The more modern idea is an intense hate towards someone of a different race.

I sincerely believe that there has been tremendous improvement concerning America's racial beliefs.

Do I believe that racism still exists? Tragically, yes. I do not know how many people harbor racist thoughts, but I have no doubt that some, if not many, do.

Returning to the vine I mentioned, I did not bring it up to show how some people blow racism out of proportion or to say that policemen will kill "blacks" on sight. I disagree with both thoughts. Yes, I am positive that some policemen somewhere are racist. How many or how racist? No idea.

I brought it up to show that racism is very much alive and how it affects peoples day to day lives. Your average policeman probably wouldn't harm or arrest black people for no reason (average policeman, not all policemen), but within that video lies the evidence for the undeniable fact that some people sincerely believe that they must fear for their lives, that they are being targeted because of their race.

That is their perception of reality, and it is impossible for anyone to declare that perception false, because how on earth could we know who is right?

They are afraid of racists, and in this way, racism lives on.