DON"T SHOOT (or going postal)

First some background.  The postal service is in a bad way in Aspen-Snowmass.  Older workers are retiring and it's been very hard to hire new postal service workers.  Starting pay can be around $17 which in the roaring fork valley really isn't enough.  As workers retire, the existing works have more work to do and the service and experience just keeps getting worse.  They have been trying to make do with some temporary works and poorly trained new hires.  There are a number of days mail doesn't arrive at my home.  It wouldn't surprise me if USPS is at the beginning of the end.  But I digress.

The other day I was driving home and saw a USPS truck pulled over on the side of the road near the weird spur that leads to my house.  I stopped behind him for about a minute to wait to see if he was going to start moving to try to avoid an accident and give him time to do what he needed to do.  After waiting a while,  I pulled up next to the truck slowly and unrolled my window and asked "can I help you".

The postal service worker turned to me and said, "I am USPS, USPS I am a postal worker" and pointed at his uniform.  He was super agitated.  I said 'alright- just wanted to help if you needed help finding something'.  I rolled up my window and drove home.

The USPS worker was african american, and new to the location (and maybe job).

He was scared, and I think fearful that I might shoot him for being black in my neighborhood.  I was just trying to be helpful and had no idea he might react like that but as I drove away thinking about how scared he was, that was the conclusion I came to (I of course could be wrong, I have no idea what was going on in his head).

But how screwed up is this country if, when I roll my window down to offer help with directions, someone fears for their life?  How crazy is it that a group of high school kids can act kinda like assholes at an event for Native Americans and they become the subject of the national conversation.  (think about stupid stuff you did in high school and thank God cell phones didn't exist in the 70s 80s or 90s).  How, as a country to do we walk back from this crazy place, rebuild trust and faith and ignore stupid, silly behavior?

I don't know, but I am open to suggestions.