With Black History Month still fresh in our minds, I find it almost exasperating to talk about. I do not want to hear another one of the stories about buses and boycotts. As an African American, I do appreciate the likes of Martin Luther King and Rosa Park. I just believe there is more to it, more to be accomplished.

Segregation: the policy of imposing the social separation of races. But must this always be an imposition? Do we have a choice? To break the mold, I’d like to talk about diversity as a whole, rather than just "us."

My disdain starts with this word: us. We can acknowledge our differences (it is human nature) but realize we are all one, one human body. America has evolved over the past 50 years but racism still exists.

Something happened. The optimism after the 60s went away. You know, the hype of the 70s and 80s that we’d all sit down in a circle and have a heart-to-heart; that we’d all become one great human family. Sometimes I think it felt too hard and everyone was relieved when we didn’t have to try anymore. Think about it: would anyone today make a television show about the clash that occurs when a wealthy black dry-cleaning business owner moves into a primarily white high-rise building? We seemed pretty fired up to discuss other social divisions like immigration; but relations between races doesn’t seem relevant anymore; that is, if we aren’t talking about the Obama presidency. An election where most of the black community (I am in contact with) voted primarily based on race, not just the "content of character" Martin Luther King fought for.

America may be reinventing itself, but it is reinventing itself as a place that believes it is post-racial, when in reality it is completely segregated. Does fish fry in the kitchen? Do beans burn on the grill? No one really seems to care anymore.

Writing this is not just about generic diversity. It is about desegregating what we chose to re-segregate. Its purpose is to open our eyes to an era of racism without the actual racists. It is about befriending others on the based on their character. And it is safe to say that the black man who does not know the white man, the Hispanic man and the Asian man, does not know America.