The Middle East, North Africa, ISIS, nuclear warfare, and other terrorist threats are all external threats that face the United States today. But, many people don’t realize that the biggest threat the US is currently facing, is in the country’s own backyard. What the citizens don’t comprehend is that the problems they should be solving, is the one that they are creating: racism. Racism is the “belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.” (“Merriam-Webster”) Racism has been one of the biggest problems in the United States since we instituted the country. The government may have created laws to help stop discrimination, but you can’t change a mindset that doesn’t want to change or has been drilled into the mind since birth; nor can you change the mindset of those that believe anything said is said against them. One day in the possible near future, racism is going to destroy and divide the US. The greatest challenge the…show more content… A stereotype, in my words, is the generalization of a certain type of person that you group with others based on their looks. This man, Brent Staples, was viewed as threatening and dangerous just because he was African American and “big.” Staples goes on to talk about how if he wore a suit then people viewed him as less threatening, since he looked “successful,” but in regular jeans and t-shirt, he was feared. He eventually figured out that if he went out of his way to make people more comfortable around him, then it was better. I would hate it if someone made me feel this way, as if I was the one that had to change for just walking down the street. Wouldn’t
