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I am a junior attending Animo Inglewood Charter High School. Next year I will be

graduating from there as well. In the future, I plan on attending California Baptist University,

majoring in public relations. I am also aiming for a masters degree in a field that I have not yet

determined.

I would consider the most important issue that society has to deal with in the next 10 or

20 years is unity amongst America. I think that over the last couple of years, the media has had

the power to diminish the worlds sense of culture and ethnicity. Society, especially in American

culture has put more emphasis on race instead of ethnicity. What the world doesn't understand

is that people plant words like race into people's heads as a way to create more division.

Race, in simplistic terms, is defined as the color of skin. The media focuses on skin tone to

determine superiority. It establishes what's appealing and what's not. Even for Latinos, the

media only casts Latinos in movies that look the part. Afro-Latinos could never get a Latino roll

because they're not "Latino enough". Take Laz Alonso, Tristan Wilds, and Tatyana Ali into

account. The media's view prevents people like them from being themselves.

If the media prevents people like them from being true to themselves, then imagine what

the media prevents ordinary people from doing. Because you don't look "right" then you are put

behind the scenes. You get shut out and eventually, you start hating yourself for the flaws that

aren't really flaws but the things that make you unique. If you can't even love yourself, how can

you love others? In the next 10 or 20 years, the shift of power will be controlled by appearance.

In the future, it won't be about knowledge and education that gets you ahead but your

complexion and body type. In the future, black history month would have lost its value, Hispanic

heritage month would have lost its significance, and the normal things that bring Americans

together would eventually be the things tearing them apart.

From the September 11th bombings, the Boston Marathon bombings that happened

earlier this year, and everyday police brutality that always seems to slip under the cracks

because it doesn't affect the people that "matter", the world is slowly being divided into multiple

sections. It seems like as time develops, people separate; whether its by religion, ethnicity,

race, gender, or sexuality. American society is too opinionated for their own good and in the

next couple decades, we won't be able to come together for the greater issues that face us.