We are not born racist, sexist, or unaccepting. We are born human, as blank canvases. Blank does not refer to the color of our skin, but the color of our thoughts, born original and without prejudice. We are brought into this world as unique beings, with brains and bodies that are capable of loving and accepting differences. It is our environment that draws our personalities and shapes our identities, both positively and negatively. Just like no work of art can be exactly alike, no human, no American, nobody can be one in the same. We are a spectrum of all races, genders, and religions. Thriving under the same the sun and stars, the beauty of the American territory is the vastness and differences among its gallery of people. The fault of the…show more content… This is why Gloria Anzaldua’s work is vital to understanding and ultimately adapting and adjusting the American culture. Responding to issues between race and gender, Anzaldua claims that the answer “lies in healing the split that originates in the very foundation of our lives, our culture, our languages, and our thoughts” (Anzaldua 841). This foundation and the history of hatred and misunderstanding in our country is complex, and fixing it is not and will not be a simple task. There is no singular, clear-cut way in which we can correct the prejudice and ignorance that floods and contaminates the thoughts of the American people. If every individual is not willing to respect eachothers differences, if every individual does not work to maintain a sense of dignity and respect for themselves and others, we will not reach an answer to our problems. According to Anzaldua, uniting and fighting for a stronger and more tolerant country is the only answer to our issues. It’s all about building bridges across identifiers and repairing them as soon as any conflict occurs. If these bridges are built and then let fall down, it’s as if they were never built in the first place. This will cause the country to rebound to a state of ignorance and intolerance. If we accept others and embrace this new consciousness, however, Anzaldua goes as far as to claim that it may “bring us to the end of rape, of violence, and of war” (Anzaldua 841), and maybe the world will finally know peace. Realistically, every individual will not be able to think beyond binaries and cross cultures to communicate with their fellow humans until they are taught so at birth, so this process needs to start at the beginning of every generation. We must take our blank canvases and link