The conversation of a young black man and his friend sitting behind me continues while I eat my small bowl of seasoned white rice. A man and a woman, both caucasian, sit together at a table by a voting booth for who-knows-what.

"Ya gotta learn that shit, then figure out how it works," says a young black woman. Before me, I see social groups galore, solitary, yet smiling. A group of people commonly referred to as skaters walk in, carousing, as an Oriental male, possibly Chinese, watches them. I've just heard about a protest on campus, and seen someone with a sign that states, "WE WANT RESPECT!" Even at a decidedly non-segregated campus, racism is still prevalent, and it's not just toward blacks. Racism goes both ways.

Some here are carrying books; others are carrying umbrellas, too. The young black woman is talking about someone she knew trying to commiut suicide to avoid a gang. Who knows why? A group of young black men have just entered, laughing, talking about various things. Another to my right, sitting by himself at the other end of my table, sneezes.

"Bless you," I say, nodding in his direction.

As our glances meet, he responds with a polite, "Thank you." When he gets up to leave, he says to me, "Peace." I reply in kind, which lessens the tension around me noticably. I'm surrounded by strangers, and the table behind me was dead silent until this moment. It's almost as if they thought of me as the enemy until one of their own, someone they knew, accepted me. Strange how I should be forced to feel different from them, as if I haven't lived here all my life, just like them. The physical differences are negligible. It's the social differences that separate us; some of us refuse to see that the oppression will end when we stop telling ourselves it hasn't. They who were oppressed won't let go of the past, and the past oppressors are long gone.

Even among our peers, or inside our own circles of friends, we "see" differences which separate us from the rest. There have to be differences to make us individuals, not just like everyone else. We need to celebrate our DIversity, not create ADversity because of it. I don't see skin color as a reason to hate; it's a reason to love because they too are human, and it is our differences that make each of us beautiful.

© 2005 T. Great. Megmat