The senseless death of a seventeen year old young man is an ugly reminder that the road to civil rights and justice never ends. It is naive to believe that any of us is totally without bias. However, there is a wonderful future for those who struggle to free themselves of the ingrained cultural norms that keep us from each other. Skin color, language and cultural dispositions are important, but underneath all these variables is the constant unifier of our humanity. We all struggle and seek so many things in common and it is foolish to let the other variables minimize the opportunity to grow and learn. Every racial and cultural group has a reservoir of learning that can be shared and enjoyed. I mourn the death of any young man, but hopefully this latest tragedy may enable us to open our hearts and minds so that as Dr. King said,” we may judge a person by the quality of the character and not by the color of the skin.”