On August 26th and a typical Wednesday morning for most people in America, Alison Parker and Adam Ward were doing a routine interview for WDBJ, a news station in Roanoke,Virginia. The two were interviewing the executive of the chamber of commerce, Vicki Gardner, on the Bridgewater Plaza. As the camera was rolling, gunshots were heard and the camera fell to the ground.

An angry former employee of the news station, Bryce Williams, shot and killed the two reporters on the scene while causing bullet wounds and other injuries to Gardner. The shooter captured all of the action on his Gopro and posted it on Facebook minutes later.

Williams sent in a “suicide note” to ABC news after the shooting and gave reasons as to why he shot Parker and Ward. A couple of hours later, police found Williams’ car with the gunman dead inside. Investigators concluded that Williams had shot himself.

The letter sent to the ABC news room led police to believe that the shooter had acted upon him being racially discriminated against and racist comments being made by his former co-workers. Police are now making further investigations as to whether these accusations are correct.

Whether or not the allegations are true, racial hate has been an ongoing issue since 2015 has begun, and these acts of violence are not the way anyone, especially Americans, should solve issues.

This includes the riots in Ferguson, when an African American teenager was shot by a white male police officer in August of 2014. Riots started breaking out after the shooting, but the major riots began after the Grand Jury decided not to charge the white police officer in March of 2015.

Since the area of Ferguson, Missouri is predominantly black and the police force is made of mostly Caucasian males, the people of Ferguson began to riot. Buildings were set on fire and vandalized, businesses were robbed, and items such as rocks, bottles, and bricks were being thrown at police.

If you move into June of 2015, 21 year old Dylann Storm Roof went into a historical African American church and shot and killed nine people in Charleston, South Carolina. Even after the people of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Emanuel AMEC) welcomed him into their service, he opened fire just over an hour later. According to a friend of Roof’s, he believed that “blacks were starting to take over the world” and decided to take upon the issue himself.

In July, the historical rebel flag was removed from the grounds of the state house in South Carolina. This was due to the fact that some whites were using it as a symbol of racial hate toward African Americans. While others just see it as an important part of American history, racial hate has become too big of a problem to be able to keep any “questionable” symbols in government grounds.

Is this what America has come to? Is this how we, as Americans, were taught to express our rights and our freedom?

Burning down buildings that belong to us is not the right way to express your rights. Robbing businesses that your neighbors have worked hard to make successful is not the right way to express your rights. Abusing officers that risk their lives every day to make our country a safer place for us to live is not the right way to express your rights. Killing innocent Christians who welcomed you into their church with open arms is not the right way to express your rights.  Shooting people of the opposite color and violently protesting is not the right way to express your rights.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. This ended discrimination and segregation in public places and employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. And over 51 years later, racial hate and discrimination is still a major issue.

So why are we destroying our country? Why are we shooting each other and burning down buildings and assaulting police forces? The color of someone’s skin should not matter. Each and every American had ancestors who fought for us to have rights. Some people’s rights may have come later, but we cannot let history repeat itself. We cannot segregate ourselves or disrespect one another or belittle each other because of the race of our neighbors. We are all abiding by the same laws, we are all fighting the same wars, and we are all living in the same country, so we need to start acting like it.

The truth is, no matter how many laws and bills are passed and no matter what society thinks, racial discrimination is never going resolve itself. It has been over 51 years since whites and blacks have been segregated, and some of society still can’t accept the fact that we are all to be treated equally.

If society can’t see past the color of someone’s skin, we will never be able to come together to solve bigger problems. We need to solve problems such as debt, poverty, and war.

Rather than create more hate and issues within the nation, we should create more peace and solutions. Rather than judge someone because of what color they are, we should accept that we are all equal. Rather than assault officers and disobey the law, we should thank them for keeping us safe. Rather than burn and vandalize buildings, we should flaunt them and show the rest of the world how proud we are to be able to own and operate such buildings freely. Rather than shoot and kill other American citizens, we should love and help one another.

We are the only ones who can solve the issue of racism, but it means that we have to unite and come together to form a resolution. It may not happen overnight, it took years for African Americans to have the same rights as whites; but if we want the future of America to be free from discrimination, we have to start taking action now.

If Americans strived to end racial hate and violent racial crimes, maybe we can finally feel honored to call ourselves citizens of the UNITED States of America.