The challenge for all races in America

When I checked my phone on May 25, I saw the video of then-police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd's neck. A few days later, videos of burning buildings and police outfitted with riot gear in Los Angeles and Minneapolis were being broadcast. The last time I had seen videos like these on American soil was in my history class in high school, learning about the civil rights movement.

This is what sparked my question: Am I living in the next civil rights movement? I can't say for certain, but these issues concern not just African Americans, they concern every member of our society, especially all nonwhites. Whether one chooses to accept it or not, before 1964 people were classified as either colored or white.

The common American cannot differentiate between Chinese, Korean or Japanese. They see no difference between Mexican, Puerto Rican and Dominican. They can't tell you the difference between Indians and Arabs or Sikhs and Muslims. However, all of these groups reap the benefits of the Civil Rights Act, which was primarily the labor of African Americans.

I leave you with this: Hispanics, if you are tired of being harassed about your citizenship or the pride you take in your culture, then don't sit back; East Asians and Indians, if you are indulging in the luxuries of this country because you have the highest racial incomes, you should feel obligated to help the race that tore down the walls for you; African Americans, it is time to become unified in your endeavors and don't give society a reason to demonize your actions. Find your modern-day Martin Luther King Jr.

For everyone else, I will recall a quotation from Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing."

Prakash D. Nigam

Palatine