When I was a child, nobody told me that Ade Olaniran was different. Nobody told me that he was better or worse than I was, privileged or non-privileged, higher or lower. If somebody had said any of these things, I would have frowned in confusion. All I knew at that early age was that he was my friend, my best friend, in fact. We played together, laughed together and grew together. Then, my family moved to a different church when I was about 11. Since that day, I’ve never seen my friend Ade. I wish I could see him again.

Ade was black (for those of you not comfortable with the term, insert POC, African-American or any other moniker you desire). I couldn’t have cared less. I was not more or less his friend because of his skin color. I liked him because he was Ade: laughing, loyal, care-free Ade.

Those of you accustomed to seeing The Student Statesman in the paper every other week might be confused: where is the normal half-fact, half-opinion format? Good question. I felt that after the result of the Ferguson grand jury and the racial animosities that have been reopened as a result, that it would be better to have, just for this week, a different approach. This will be the closest to a rant that I will ever go. This is me speaking from the heart about an issue we college students care about deeply.

As a member of Student Congress, it is usually not wise for me to be blunt, but I felt compelled to be here. I hate (yes, hate, not dislike or disapprove of, but hate) the race discussion. I hate the fact that we look on each other’s friendships and relationships and judge them based on the skin color of the people involved. I hate the fact that we are still having conversations about whether or not Officer Wilson shot Michael Brown because the cop felt threatened or the kid was black. I hate it, to the very core of my being.

So what is my point? Why am I writing this?

Quite simply, I long for healing. I long for people to clasp each other by the hand in friendship without regard as to which hand is darker or lighter. Perhaps this is naïve, the delusions of a 20-year-old who hasn’t lived “in the real world” after college yet. Perhaps that day will never come and we will continue to despise each other because of the level of a pigment in the outer layer of our skin.

But if it does, if the day comes when I can look in Ade Olaniran’s eyes and know that the world doesn’t care what either of us looks like, I will be the first to rejoice.