What’s currently going on in Ferguson can be the beginning of something great or absolute chaos.

The Ferguson controversy is shedding light on one of America’s biggest downfalls: Racism.

Before you research my name and try to hunt me down, hear me out.

For those who are unaware of what’s going on, here’s a little background. On Aug. 9, Mike Brown, a young, unarmed man, was shot six times and killed by police officers in broad daylight with various witnesses around to see.

Reminiscent of the Rodney King riots, who was beaten by the police in the 90s, a plague of riots are breaking out in Ferguson, MO. There may be a twenty year difference, but nothing has changed.

The South Jersey Times stated, “The rioting looters are opportunists; people who have taken a tragedy and are using it as an excuse to exercise their most base and criminal desires.”

I beg to differ. The South Jersey Times and others who think the same way need to take off their “racism-is-over” glasses and see that it is alive and well and still killing.

Perhaps the looters are a part of a generation of people who are tired of being followed around stores, being pulled over by the police for no reason or being the “black friend.”

There’s no doubt that black people are treated differently in this country. When a person has been treated unfairly their whole life, it’s natural to want to fight back.

To simply say that the looters in Ferguson are “opportunists” is grossly judgmental.

It is admirable that the rioters want to make a change, but their efforts need to be redirected.

I propose a resurrection of Martin Luther King Jr. in America. We need a new activist for the black people of our generation.

Not to discredit people like Al Sharpton, but we need a new representative that the younger generation can relate to so that the impression they leave on the youth is a lasting one.

We need to see an activist who fights back through speech, not violence.

We need to see an activist surface who can show people that racism is really a humanistic problem and how to stop it.

We need to see an activist who acknowledges there are new ways to get the message out. Until we see a new activist step up, let’s be the activist.

Let’s capitalize on our technological culture and spread the word. #HandsUpDontShoot