What's bubbling under your skin

He was in his 40s and he was angry. Over ownership of sheets. And over something as simple as that, the ugliness simmering below the surface came bubbling out.

This incident occurred just as we were discussing slavery in one of my classes. Examining how racism was instituted into the United States. When I was beginning to wonder what Thomas Jefferson really meant when he said we are equal.

Was that just a bunch of crap?

In school what we are taught is filtered through the eyes of a historian who sees his history as never being wrong. He only cites what the founders of our nation thought was good for the general public to know. The rhetoric of equality.

Does anyone truly believe it?

Did that man who called me a "nigger" believe I was equal to the next man or woman?

It's time we begin living the rhetoric.

We live in a class-system society, where the rich cling with the rich and the poor stay with the poor. But this does not make one superior to the other. For in the eyes of God we are all equal on his day of judgment.

It is true my skin is brown and it is true that my parents must be African Americans. But an individual goes wrong when he or she calls me a "nigga."

True, I grew up in a rough neighborhood, I didn't wear the finest of clothing, but I did get an education. And I am aware when stereotypes and racism are in action.

It is the year 1998, and racism is still in full effect. As we near the 21st century, most people wouldn't believe that after years of struggling for equality, the hatred of other races is in existence.

Racism is a hard word to gulp down your throat and swallow. A word that carries centuries of pain, blood and tears. A word that makes color a solid and not a mixture. A word that can ruin a family, or a friendship.

All this hatred in a six-letter word, all this explosive potential.

It makes a person want to laugh, especially an African American, when we hear the word freedom.

I, who am black, often wonder what that word means. True, I can do whatever I want to do, but deep down inside I know I am not free.

Slavery was abolished nearly a century ago, and people still can not recognize that we are equal because we are inherently equal. Skin color, religion and other physical characteristics may separate us but intelligence is something we all can achieve.

This means that the education I receive at the University of Arizona through classwork and experiences is one that I will work for just as hard as the next person. I believe that we all deserve that chance to be known for the person that we are and not the stereotype you were taught.

Someone once told me, "Don't be politically correct if your attitude doesn't change."

There is hidden racism alive in us all. Of course we can say that racism died when slavery was abolished. But why should we lie to ourselves?

I am an optimist. I am a firm believer in Dr. King's dream. I do believe that one day color, religion and other physical characteristics will no longer separate us.

But we are still far from that day.

And the only we can move closer is stepping out from political correctness and admitting to what's simmering under the surface.

Erica Breaux is a psychology freshman and can be reached via e-mail at Erica.Breaux@wildcat.arizona.edu.