Thanks, Vanessa and Donna

From David Zarembka 

Well, I was trying to find Vanessa's email address, but I found this instead. I wanted to write her an email, but it may as well be public. I cannot seem to get more than a one-time pass word to log on (I live in Kenya on a very, very slow modum connected to my cell phone system) so if anyone would like to respond to me please email me at davidzarembka@juno.com. Also I don't know why this is in read.

Dear Vanessa,
Thanks so much to you and Donna for writing Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship which I just finished reading. It was very painful to read. While the 19th century part could be consigned to ancient times, that of the 20th century and particularly since the WWII cannot.
While twenty years have gone by since you essentially ended your book (1990), I wonder how much change there has been since then. Just a few years ago in Meeting for Worship an older, respected Friend spoke with Whites as we; and Blacks as they; Then there was another racial slight that I can't remember. It took me awhile to think how to respond in a Quakerly way, but I did say something to the point that was not too harmful or hurting. After the Meeting, a mixed European-Asian member thanked me for responding. When she said this to me, there was a young white attender listening on. He commented that he didn't hear any racial slights! So I had to explain it to him.
What bothers me most is this is so simple, so obvious, and so easy to do (compared to stopping wars, installing a fairer economic system, and so many other life-threatening problems). Why the resistance? Why the failure to even attempt to move beyond our terrible past into a brave newer world of real equality?
Since part of my work as Coordinator of the African Great Lakes Initiative is to bring Americans to workcamps and other volunteer positions here in the region, I have to deal with what I call Afriphobia--Fear of Africa. The Civil Rights campaign of the last sixty years has taught white Americans that they can no longer express openly their racist assumptions. So they have learned to do it in code. But this does not include comments about Africa and Africans. I hear racist comments and attitudes about Africa and Africans all the time.
In other words, regardless of any progress, we still have a long, long way to go. As explained in the book progress in many Quaker institutions occurred when the old guard resigned or passed away. Is our only hope that perhaps our children or grandchildren might have figured things out long after we have passed away and can no longer be roadblocks of ancient racial hatred (pun on ancient tribal hatreds which is one of the racist assumptions used to explain problems in Africa)?

Please keep up the good work.
Peace,
Dave