When taking the SAT’s one too many times, I became quite acquainted with the “Personal Information” section. There was of course the required date of birth, social security number (if known), and home address. Common sense was all it took to answer these questions. However, there was one question that I realized most every person in the room would be tediously drawing in at least more than one circle for.

“Identify your race.”

It seems easy to distinguish Whites, Blacks, Mexicans, and Asians. Though with current college students consisting of the largest group of mixed-race people in the United States, it seems increased immigration and interracial marriages have blurred the once easily distinguished line between races.

According to data by the Pew Research Center conducted in 2008-2009, one in seven new marriages is interracial. Today, “mixed race” Americans are stated to be one of the most rapidly growing demographic groups in the United States, as stated by The New York Time’s article “Black? White? Asian? More Young Americans Choose All of the Above,” and the trend is still increasing.

Coming a long way from the years of segregated drinking fountains, young adults today are rejoicing in their mixed backgrounds.

“I think it’s really important to acknowledge who you are and everything that makes you that,” said Ms. Wood, a 19-year-old University of Maryland student and vice president of the college’s Multiracial and Biracial Student Association. “If someone tries to call me black I say, ‘yes — and white.’ People have the right not to acknowledge everything, but don’t do it because society tells you that you can’t.”

When I was 10 years old, I can remember most vividly my mother’s high pitched yells at the discovery of a swastika drawn onto our icy front porch window. Unaware of the swastika’s degrading meaning, it wasn’t until later in my life when I truly realized the seriousness of this horrible symbol.

Just yesterday did a horrible occurrence of pure racism occur in a small town neighborhood of New Mexico. After completing their shifts at the local Mcdonald’s, three coworkers branded a swastika shaped coat hanger onto the arm of a local Navajo man. This 22 year old mentally disabled man was then forced to stay silent as the three men shaved a swastika into the back of his head while writing racist slurs such as “KKK” and ‘White Power” on the victim’s body.

Sadly for this town, this case has served as just one of many domestic hate crimes over the past year.

Fortunately, local leaders have gained focus on bettering the relationship between the Navajo community and the Whites. In addition, due to new laws instituted under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, officials are able to more easily prosecute these men for their disgusting hate crime.

Estimated to serve up to ten years in prison once convicted, these three men represent the malicious, disgusting ways of a person who still believes that one should be treated horribly simply due to the color of their skin.

While reading this story, the common question of “what kind of person would do this?” constantly rang in my head. Not only were the men conducting a horrible hate crime, but the victim was only an innocent, helpless man. I honestly find it quite cynical that a man who can beat another down due to his race is the same man who regards himself as a higher person. Maybe it’s the guns they carry or the repulsive words they utter. But simply put, these white supremacists are one of the most sickening forms of a person I could ever encounter.

Reminiscing over one’s most embarrassing, upsetting memory has never proven to be fun. Recalling the first time you tripped in front of your  kindergarten crush to the first time your heart was broken, the painful memories are always something we hate to remember, but unfortunately, the things we remember most.

Recently, researchers at John Hopkins University have linked the removal of proteins from the brain’s fear center to the permanent removal of certain memories. Although some may simply wish to use this process so that their most unlikable memories may never again be recounted, professor and chair of neuroscience at John Hopkins University, Richard L. Huganir, believes that this mechanism could also be applied to people with certain disorders.

“This raises the possibility of manipulating those mechanisms with drugs to enhance behavioral therapy for such conditions as post-traumatic stress disorder” said Huganir.

Though before we are consumed with the idea that all our pains can magnificently just disappear, critical doubts have been placed on Huganir’s theory by the executive director of the mental health support group NAMI Maryland, Karin Farinholt.

“Erasing a memory and then everything bad built on that is an amazing idea, and I can see all sorts of potential,” said Farinholt in an interview with the Baltimore Sun. “But completely deleting a memory, assuming it’s one memory, is a little scary. How do you remove a memory without removing a whole part of someone’s life, and is it best to do that, considering that people grow and learn from their experiences.”

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For some strange reason, one of my overall fascinations about the so called “Big Apple” of New York City has always been taxis. No, I am not saying that the bright yellow color and black streaks absorb me in some weird type of fascination, but rather, in my mind, a night on the town has always seemed incomplete without this shiny yellow car.

Though with most of my experiences consisting of average dressed cabbies, I have never once thought of what they were wearing, in fact never even recognized it. And although the little small screen may prevent us from silently judging their clothes, I see it as quite a bit odd as most of Manhattan seems to be dominated by walking models from the latest Cosmo or Vogue magazines.

Though it seems like I may be one of a few carrying this opinion.

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Since Bill Clinton’s presidency in 1993, the military has strictly enforced a rule referred to as the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy aimed at eliminating both female and male homosexuals from serving in the military. This policy, which has brought much debate in the previous year, has recently been a topic of discussion among congress, undergoing changes that have ultimately confused the public.

“We are clearly in a legally uncertain environment,” said a senior Pentagon official regarding the policy changes.

While a recent attempt to overturn this policy ended in a hung jury, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered that potential soldiers are no longer required to state their sexual orientation. In addition, just last Thursday Mr. Gates stated that no man should be banned from military service due to sexual orientation unless approved by the three top Pentagon civilian officials.

These requested changes will be either finalized or dismissed this coming Monday during a scheduled court hearing.

Although uncertainty imminently exists, the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy is finally undergoing necessary changes, ridding the world of unjust discrimination and bias.