Throughout history the human race has plastered our world with racism and discrimination, which has led to hate.

Are we really that ignorant? Both the past and the present prove that we are.

To hate someone because of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, culture and so on is probably one of the most stupid things I have ever come across in my 23 years of life.

Racism was an issue that bothered me all summer; the kind of racism that was imposed on Arizona’s residents by Gov. Jan Brewer.

I was so deeply impacted by what Brewer was doing to these residents that I broke down and could not stop crying for nearly three hours.

She claims to be trying to combat illegal immigration. However, she was not combating illegal immigration, but rather attacking individuals because of their race, ethnicity and color. In other words, attacking individuals that resemble millions of Americans like me.

I’ve hoped for many things in life, but changing racism and discrimination is sadly something I have lost hope in, at least for the moment.

Racism and discrimination will probably never be destroyed, which extremely saddens me. A world with such a cancer is pretty repulsive to live in.

I feel that if we were all one color we would simply find another reason to hate one another. If we were all rich we would find out who had the least money and humiliate them.

Racism and discrimination are the main reasons why we, as both a country and as the world cannot succeed.

A recent crime due to discrimination occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 24, when a New York City taxi cab driver was stabbed because he stated he was Muslim.

It didn’t seem to be something a healthy person would do. It’s as bad as if I were to go around stabbing everybody who was Catholic just because I was Mormon. It just didn’t make sense.

Another incident of racism occurred just a few weeks ago. A Mexican-American man was severely beaten in Staten Island because he was a “wetback.”

I could not believe that this happened in what we consider to be the “land of the free.”

When I think of hate crimes that are committed against people because of how their creator made them it makes me feel sad, angry and most of all, disparaged. It’s insulting because before any race, ethnicity, culture or color, I consider myself human.

Diversity is what makes the United States a beautiful country.

If we, the educated, don’t break down the walls of racism and discrimination then it will never be done. Education is the key to begin the elimination of racism and discrimination.

The only thing we should hate is hate itself.

Let’s learn to accept and love one another for who we are.

Oscar Perez is a sophomore Mass Communications and Journalism major and contributing writer. Perez serves as senator at-large for Associated Students, Inc.