Sorry - been traveling.
I DO worry about the culture of violence in this country, but personally I am not confronted with it as much because I live in a semi rural area. We don’t have that level of violence - nor, the population that contributes to extreme violence (Not Yet!). Thus, I was saying “thankfully”.
However, I realized that I was going into Oakland, California for the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, I realized that I would be entering an area where the culture of violence is prevalent.
Now that I’ve left that area, I can say I went nowhere near those areas. I stuck to the east bay hills!
Sometimes you just can’t avoid it. Just need to keep your situational awareness meter pegged on high alert and be armed if possible.