When I was little my Mother and I were riding on the bus, as the bus stopped a man had gotten on. As the man walked to find a seat his eyes had fallen on and me my mother. He stopped right in front of us, looked at my mother, and then at me, made a face of disgust and started to yell

I look exactly like my mother, there is no denying that she gave birth to me. The only difference between the two of us is my mother’s complexion little bit darker than mine, and unlike her beautiful brown eyes, mine are hazel .

The words the man was yelling at my mother was traitor. He felt like she had betrayed her race by making a mixed baby. He told her he felt she should go to hell for what she did and so should I. He called me all kinds of names and said I was “un-pure,” and said I should have never been born. He continued to tell my mom how she should be ashamed for what she did.

As I listened to the mans words, I looked at my mother with my eyes full of tears not fully understanding what was going on. She looked back at me grabbed my hand, looked that man straight in the eyes and simply said “Sir, God Bless you,” and we got off the bus.

When we had gotten off she looked at me, wiped the tears from my face and told me not to cry, she said that the man’s heart was full of hate, but it was not his fault, he was never taught any better.

My mother was right. No one is ever born with hate in their hearts, it is something learned. People seldom realize how strong of an effect even the tiniest acts of hate can have on the world.

As I write this now, wondered what hurtful experiences that man may have had to make him feel as strongly as he did.

You see, no one ever wakes up one day suddenly so full of hate that they decide to go and shoot up an elementary school, or kill an innocent 17-year-old boy on his way from the corner store. Or beat a teenage Muslim girl to death just for the simple fact that she was Muslim. It is a seed that has been planted on the inside of them and has kept growing until one day it can no longer be contained.

Hate is a rippling cycle and it’s only mission is to destroy everything that comes its way. There is no good that can come out of hate it only leads to even more hate, more hurt, more fear and in turn more lives being taken before their time. The truth is, people only hate what they don’t understand, and what is not understood eventually becomes feared.

But why would you fear your brother or your sister? When you have hate towards the one next to you, you are hating one of your own.

Even though we might look different from one another, speak different langauges or come from different places, we are still all one. It is actually a scientific fact that we all possess one gene that originated from the same person.

When you Love you aren’t just spreading love to a random stranger, you are loving your own. No matter how “different” they may seem. So instead of letting differences divide us, let’s rise above them. Let’s love the hate out of this world we live in..

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

-MLK

Rest in peace #PhilandoCastile #CharleenaLyles #NabraHassanen, and the list goes on……