When Obama was elected president in 2008, he was heralded as the first African American president. And yet, that’s all some people see. Some of us only voted for him because he was black, others of us didn’t for the same reason. And the rest of us, voted for or against him, based on his policies and views. It was irrelevant whether or not he was black. If he became the first black president, well, that was just an added bonus. I agree that the focus on his race is beyond ridiculous. But why that should mean that those of us who celebrated his victory as a landmark in civil rights are racist, I don’t understand. Discrimination for some, has gone beyond its definition. Discrimination, no longer means oppression towards a minority group. Somehow, to some, it has started to mean emphasizing differences at all. America has become so paranoid now, about being equal, that we’ve lost what meant to be unique. Offering equal rights and opportunities to everyone should not become confused with the idea that everyone is the same. This zealous anti-discrimination has become a discrimination in itself. No longer can I be proud of my race, or religion, or gender, because this is “discrimination”. I thought that America was supposed to represent the freedom to be different and unique. Isn’t that why some of us came here? But if we believe these other people, instead, we are all the same. Our differences should be so pessimistically viewed as divisions between us, but rather differences that we can all share to learn about one another, something that we can be proud of so that we are not all photocopies of each other. None of these attributes should define you, or embody your whole person, but they are part of your identity. So when we celebrate an event that shows that people can view differences as something good, rather than evil divisions, we are not being discriminatory.