I will be studying Russian this year in a few neighboring countries to Russia. As an African-American man, should I even bother making a trip to Moscow? I hear all these stories of skin-head crazies chasing and killing Africans there and in St. Petersburg. Needless to say, I don't need to experience that! Yet at the same time I am of the belief that not all Russians are this way, particularly due to my interaction with a few Russians now living in America. Some of the friendliest people I've ever met. What is the situation currently like there?

As an aside, I should point out that the title of this thread is from the title of a book by a Black journalist who lived in Russia during the 1930's and '40s. He speaks of the distinct LACK of prejudice in that book that he experienced at that time. It is pretty sad to me that the country has regressed in that sense. Anyway, the book is quite an interesting read since the author (Homer Smith) was in Moscow during World War II and writes about what it was like in Russia at wartime.