This question was asked many times in January, with Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, and in February, being Black History Month.

In my English class we watched a special news program called "True Colors." It was made by a news team who wanted to research what discrimination is like firsthand in the '90s. The team found two men: one white by the name of John and one black man by the name of Glen. These men went to college together, worked together and did many things alike.

When they sent John into a car dealer to look at a red convertible, the salesman gave him a much lower price than they had given Glen. The news team asked the salesman why he had given such different prices for the same car. The salesman seemed confused about what to tell the news team.

Glen was constantly charged more than John throughout the two-week project. When the two men went to buy shoes, John received immediate help and a warm, hearty welcome. Glen had to wait ten minutes before he gave up and had to ask for assistance. When they looked for jobs and apartments, John was always asked to fill out applications, and Glen was always turned away and rejected by the same people who had accepted John. How is this treatment supposed to help other African-American families who can't get housing or jobs? How will they survive, and why must this happen to them just because of their skin color?

The research project took place in St. Louis but they believe these results could happen anywhere. To prove this, they took Glen and John to New York City to try to find a taxi. Glen was in front of John and the taxi passed Glen and stopped to pick up John.

Just recently, video stores in Rhode Island received threatening phone calls from white supremacist groups, saying that if they put the movie "Jungle Fever" on their shelves, the group would firebomb the stores and perform other destructive acts.

I think that if we all start to work harder TOGETHER (every month, not just in January and February), in our own communities, to combat these problems of discrimination, it might give us the chance to make a difference worldwide. n