[John-W29166]

I can hear your frustration. I’m frustrated, too, because it seems that no matter what is done, the changes – attitude, conditions, socioeconomic levels – are so incrementally small. But I will say that from my encounters, I believe that most people are not racist. What people are is comfortable with what is similar to them and uncomfortable with what is different. It’s not the color of our skin that separate our races. It is the differences in our cultures. Because of that, black and white people often don’t feel comfortable around each other. Once I attended a Baptist service in a black neighborhood in Cleveland. (Cleveland is still very segregated.) While we were received very kindly, and thanked for coming to the service, I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable and out of place. The service was very different from what I was used to and the people acted much differently. I felt the same way when I attended a sitting at a Buddhist Zendo recently. The cultures were entirely different and the people behaved in alien ways. What’s the solution? People either have to extend outside of their comfort zones (which, based on history, most people don’t seem to do, even with religion as a motivator) or America has to again act as a melting pot, and we have to become more similar, so that we don’t feel as uncomfortable as we do today with each other and come together more. I wish it were easier. I wish that we could both set down this burden. But it will take time and continued changes, and religion, I think, will only play a part.

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Name : John-W29166, Gender : M, Religion : Catholic, Age : 33, City : Cleveland, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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