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America must have that illusion also. It bothers me to hear that America is a "come one, come all" country where everyone mixes because in my experience that's simply not true. There's got to be some reason why I've had a total of two acquaintances (just acquaintances) in my whole life who were not white American. I don't think it's because of a lack of friendliness on my part and it's not because of a lack of people of other cultures. It just seems like trying to bridge that space between cultures has always resulted in an oil and vinegar situation. I remember in 8th grade I tried to be friends with a really nice Hispanic girl (I don't know specifically where she was from) and when it was just us hanging out we got along wonderfully. But when her other friends who were also Hispanic were around I was completely lost because they spoke Spanish to each other. I remember one girl in particular who wouldn't even look at me. It wasn't just them though. I don't speak Spanish, so I had no way to relate to them.

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I also remember one of my first jobs. Most of the people who worked there were of Slavic descent, Hungarian or Russian, etc. When I told them that I was half Slovakian I was almost instantly in the fold. Even though I don't speak any Slavic language. I was hearing stories about their families in Hungary, who was getting married to who when...it was incredible, using the "impossible to believe" definition. I've never experienced anything like it.

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I'm not sure what my comfort level would be. When I was choosing my name there would have been a LOT of very Hebrew/Jewish names on my list if I wasn't so trepidatious about using a name from a culture I'm clearly not a member of.