Gun shots are audible in the shaky video taken by a bystander.

The consoled mother sobbing about her child, saying that her baby would never have harmed anyone.

The faces of police officers are being plastered on TV screens as well.

I think we can all agree that the tension between the civilians and cops is thicker than blood.

In the past few years, the news has put a spotlight on this issue. It concerns me that when we hear, “cop shoots an African-American boy,” our first thought is, “oh no, not another one.”

It’s become such a normal part of our lives and that has bothered many citizens.

This strain causes people to fear those who are supposed to protect us, the ones who are there for our safety.

We all are judgmental. We all hear about stereotypes. We think that writing equality in the constitution will make it official. Sadly, that is not the case.

Discrimination still runs deeps within our so-called free land.

Our African-american citizens, who are frequently facing discrimination, are not the only ones facing this epidemic. For example, women are degraded, said to be weak and easy to prey on; police officers are said to be all racists, and Hispanics are being called rapists and criminals.

The equality that Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting for is still a struggle we fight today. We say that we have progressed so much, but even the iPhone has evolved more than we have.

The world we live in needs change and as cliche as it sounds, that change starts with oneself. Mahatma Gandhi said, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” But are we, ourselves, being the change we want to see?