An Open letter to all Americans, It has been said repeatedly that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week, but I disagree. Segregation occurs every day of the week after 5 p.m. We leave our places of employment, where diversity is promoted throughout the company and integrated into its hiring practices, and retreat to our evening social events with people who, more often than not, look like us and possess similar backgrounds. Diversity is required in the workplace but it isn't required in our personal lives and many people seem to see no need to implement it. Do social gatherings at your home include attendees who look like the multicultural America we say we so earnestly want to see? Our schools are integrated but how often do we encourage our children to interact with children of a different ethnicity and culture outside of their learning environments? Do their play dates and sleepovers include children of a different race? If not, why not? This social segregation, so many of us experience, may not be a conscience effort but one born of convenience and a desire to spend time with those you feel you have more in common with. Yet, how do you know you have nothing in common with someone of another race if you don't spent time with them? The Bible calls us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Your neighbor isn't merely the person who resides next to you but mankind as a whole. The theme of the 2012 April 4th Foundation's 12th Annual Commemorative Awards Banquet is Diversity After Five. It is designed to bring awareness to the need for each of us to expand our circle of friends in an effort to truly implement Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. I want to see more friendships like that of former President Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan. Before he became Clinton's presidential advisor, Jordan was his friend. These two individuals of different races formed a true brotherhood through years of interaction, common causes and similarities. Dr. King once said, "Men hate each other because they fear each other, and they fear each other because they don't know each other, and they don't know each other because they are often separated from each other." Let's eliminate the separation in order to eliminate the fear, the hate and the prejudice and get to know one another. Reach beyond your comfort zone and embrace someone of another race. I recognize such friendships are not developed instantaneously, but I encourage each of you to try to implement King's dream into the very fabric of your personal lives. Then and only then can we say America is truly diverse. More diversity after 5 p.m., that's what we need. It won't solve our racial problems, but I believe it will help. Sincerely, Johnson E. Saulsberry, Jr. Founder & Chairman