Racism and it's influence on self esteem

As a black college student, I have been around almost all the four corners and walls of racism in the educational system and life generally. Sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if Martin Luther King Jr's words in the year 1963 were just a waste and his death useless. Some of these white folks still keep making life miserable for the black people and we are made to lower our heads in cowardly shame. 

We are made to accept everything they bring to our tables because we have little or no say and choice. We are made to be obedient to them and even be treated as their servants sometimes in the aspect of bully and the likes. We are made to bury our potentials and talents because of the fear of being looked down upon, fear of what actions they might take against us and anyone who even has the courage to speak up is belittled.
We are made to see that being bullied by whites is a way of life we should get used to. A black man's self esteem has been made so low to think that he cannot bring any change to the world because he cannot think beyond being`black'.

 I sat in my room pondering on how to present my speech tomorrow without causing any alarm. I tossed and turned in my bed until I finally came up with something, skimming through my notepad I put my words down and had a good night rest in preparation for my college graduation. 

The long awaited graduation day where I have to give my speech finally arrived, I ran my hands through the pages of my notepad in anxiety on the stage as I faced thousands of students who were also graduating today. 

`I welcome you all to the day we have all anticipated. I am honoured to have been chosen to speak before all my colleagues today on a very paramount issue in our society, educational system and life generally, 

`Racism and it's influence on self esteem'. 

I am black by race, people's perceptions of us black people are that we are expected to be gang involved, Uneducated and many more. Because of those perceptions that are ingrained in the history of our country sometimes we as black people have the same perspectives of ourselves. It impacts who we think we can be and what we think we can achieve. So part of the challenges we face is to change those perceptions of ourselves and learn to take pride in who we are and where we come from.
During my almost four years in this school in this college, I have encountered some challenging situations regarding race, my conversation with white people revealed the racism and the prejudice that some white people have towards people of colour. Some responses I got were `my dad won't let black people in our house because they steal' `my parents will disown me if I ever dated a black guy'. Being a young individual and hearing these things made me lose my self esteem. I saw other black students being bullied and forces to do things against their will. So what are we going to do about this negative stereotypes that run through our society that are both hurtful and inaccurate.
To begin with, days like this are most important, we need to have opportunities to talk openly about race because when we do this, more people will learn that the negative assumption made about others are not true.
Breaking down stereotypes is just the first step. There also needs to be a commitment that rules out the systematic racism that put so many people of colour in jail and deprives us the educational  and vocational opportunities that we deserve. Developing our relationships and understanding of each other will serve as a foundation to build a more just society where all of us are given equal opportunity to have a decent life.
Eliminating racism is a big job that may or may not be accomplished in our life time but we can make progress . We must understand our differences and we must respect them. We must not be afraid of being black. It's who we are. We all regardless of race will march out of the walls of this college and bring a change to our society, country and world at large. We will not allow ourselves to be looked down upon. We will take our stand in the nation and have a say. Our self esteem will be held up high because it's who we are. 

We might come from different cultures but we are one race. The human race. '