Race and Relations

The issue of race relations is caused by people making value judgments on other people based on the color of their skin or what region they call home. In some areas of the US, we've gotten very good at avoiding this, and I'm glad that I was raised to believe, as Dr. King said, that we can live in a world where people "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character".

However, I now live in Kenya and I'm finding it very difficult to adjust to this culture where people are judged almost solely by their skin color. I have to wrestle with the preconceived notions that all white people are rich, all asians know martial arts, and (to the locals), even the level of darkness in the skin says something about who you are.
It's a series of assumptions that I'm trying to fight, but my efforts are made nearly void because I have light skin.
In January of this year, we saw people do horrible things to each other simply because of what tribe they were from. At home, we're taught not to make gross generalizations about any group of people. But at my place of work, that's all they know. "Those Kikuyus are thieves," they say, and continue to assert that, yes, ALL of them are. "Those Kamba..." "Those Luo..." "Those Arabs..."
And then they ask me why white people hate black people so much. I can't answer that because I don't know any white people who hate black people. But hey, I know plenty of black people who do believe this, and hate white people because of it.
It's a vicious cycle.
I try to provide unifying potential. But the people I work with just assume that somehow I'm trying to usurp them, to enslave them again.
And sadly, there's nothing I can do about that.