First world frustrations such as autocorrect, a broken microwave, or not being able to hear the television because of the loud crunching of chips are easy to manage.

Tragedies like neo-Nazi, “Unite the Right” white supremacist rallies in 2017, not so much.

We are a nation that represents dignity, strength, and opportunity, not isolation or bigotry. We should use these notions as means to bridge our country together.

With Charlottesville being nearly 2300 miles away from El Camino College, we cannot allow our divide to grow even stronger.

Racial tension is not something the El Camino community is plagued by according to the El Camino Community College District Crime Statistics. There haven’t been any hate crimes reported since 2013.

Yet racial diversity remains very visual. As of fall 2016, according to El Camino’s Institutional Demographics, El Camino College is 52 percent Latino, 15 percent Asian, 14 percent African-American, 13 percent White, and 5.8 percent other.

White supremacist groups control a small minority of the masses.

They cannot be the voice of our country, Rev. Jeff Hood, radical baptist pastor and author, once said, “distance does not separate us, silence does.”

After chants of “blood and soil” by a maniacal tiki-torch mob, and an endorsement by former KKK leader David Duke vowing to “take our country back,” you would think President Trump would run to the press, dismantling any semblance of adding fuel to an already blazing flame. He failed at doing so.

Nearly a month later, it still burns.

We need our president to unequivocally denounce white supremacist groups, hatred and violence. We need our president to promote unity amongst those who fight to build this country into a place where all are accepted. We need our president to call evil by its name.

Instead we are confronted with the fact that our country still has seeds of racism, hatred that roots back hundreds of years. We are confronted with the fact that although history may be distant, it is recurring. Although it fades, the wounds are still healing.

Its fairly safe to say that racial tension fueled by slavery, hatred and violence is irredeemable. But what can be restored is our unity as individuals.

There are a multitude of opportunities for students, staff and faculty to unite, to take initiative on being informed and welcoming.

The El Camino campus can come together and promote more open forums for all individuals to voice their opinions and experiences towards race relations. Conversation is monumental.

As a campus we can organize a “Diversity Day” where we have different vendors, or groups from our campus promoting different cultures, just as we promote different colleges.

We can promote a program to acknowledge a “diverse” individual each month, or each semester.

We can add more diversity through our Arts program by promoting culturally diverse plays.

Our failed response towards racial injustice reflects our difficulty in acknowledging what history is. What is gone cannot be regained.

We are a nation built by slaves, yes, but overtime we have become a melting pot of values, beliefs, and morals which make our country and our campus a juggernaut of opportunity.

We must stand up for one another when faced with injustice. We must maintain faith in one another. We must look for leadership amongst one another. We must maintain unity. We are the future. We are the change. We are the rise.