Last week members of a fraternity at University of Kansas were discovered to have taken part in a video posted to social media that mocked Muslims. The day after the video was posted the president of their fraternity expelled the members who took part in it and, while the problem was quickly and appropriately addressed, The Mentor editorial board had a discussion about the general conflicts created by religion and other recent incidents.

The first thing the happening led us to question was why members of a traditionally Jewish fraternity would ridicule another religion when they themselves are often persecuted. Anti-semitism definitely still exists, so it would seem that they should be able to use their experiences to realize how harmful and degrading it is to shame another group because of their faith and beliefs.

Aside from the sense of empathy they should have for other groups frequently discriminated, the basis of most religions is that you should love one another and be understanding and accepting of all people — so it’s kind of counteractive to mock another group when you yourself are representing a religious group. These circumstance should be used to unite and identify with one another.

Also, leaving out any religious aspects of the issue, being a member of a fraternity is also supposed to symbolize brotherhood and leadership. At this time frats already have a bad rap, so they should strive to present themselves the best they can and erase stereotypes existing for themselves. The individual members should be constantly aware they’re representing something bigger than themselves.

This incident depicts a larger problem in both religious and nonreligious communities — we’re able to see Muslims being attacked more than almost any other group because they’re somehow different and thought of as lesser than other people. It’s unfortunate that our society isn’t educated enough to be able to differentiate between the extremists from groups and what the actual group stands for and represents. People have the tendency to fear things they don’t know and we need to end the ignorance. The media should be taking action to educate the population on the common misconceptions nobody else is taking the time to correct.

America is supposed to be a safe haven from persecution, yet what are we becoming? If we’re trying to be an ultimate democratic power we need to educate and stand against the prejudice that’s happening. If the president of a fraternity understands that the rest of our society should be able to as well.

We need to end the system of oppression we currently thrive from and we never will until we make the push. Our government doesn’t change conditions until they feel the pressure to. We need to educate ourselves as well as other people and the media should be doing so also.

Every voice needs to be heard.