I don’t know any black people who blame all white people for slavery or even police brutality. My uncle is a police officer and I love him dearly. I have many white friends who are among the best people I’ve ever known. Here in the states, some of the most powerful companies in the country were founded and first became prosperous because of the free labor of slavery.

But I would not be so presumptuous as to try and explain Indian culture or what it feels like to be an Indian immigrant in Germany. I’m not qualified to answer those questions. I can tell you that consciously or unconsciously, people tend to treat immigrants as outsiders.

I can tell you that talking to each other is good; it’s something we don’t do enough of. And don’t just talk when you are frustrated when your neighbors make noise that keeps you up nights. Go over and talk to them in the middle of the day or on the weekend when all is well. Shake their hands, find out their names, offer them a drink, be neighbors. Then when you say your daughter needs to get some sleep because she has school in the morning, you’re just not some guy across the way yelling at them, you’re the neighbor who comes over and is always so friendly.