Asian Life in Los Angeles | Asian American Poll

ASIAN LIFE IN LOS ANGELES
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WHAT YOU SAY

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i think l.a. is the last place you want to joke about race. there is a great deal of diversity here, but we are all segregated. koreans live in the nicer parts of ktown. mexicans live in the worser parts of ktown. the very poor chinese and vietnamese live in chinatown. the somewhat wealthier chinese are clustered in the san gabriel valley. old japanese people live in little tokyo. younger japanese families live in torrance. you'll find blacks in compton, inglewood, etc. whites will be in santa monica, west l.a., beverly hills, etc.

and it's very apparent when a person of a certain ethnic background is in a city "his people" normally would not be in. aside from le prive, it's very rare for a chinese person to hang out in ktown. korean people in chinatown? unlikely. blacks in chinatown? bums, maybe. blacks in the san gabriel valley? close to never.

i don't know why this segregation exists; this is purely a description.

in the bay area, there is nothing like this. there is a filipino concentration in daly city, but then again there are numerous chinese, latino, and white families there as well. in japantown, you'll find just as many chinese and koreans as you do japanese. and white tourists can always be seen. oakland only black? that's only a stereotype. many chinese, vietnamese, white, and cambodian families call oakland their home.

there is less racism in the bay area not because people are polite closet racists--it's because integration promotes understanding between the groups and therefore serves to eliminate stereotypes and racism.

and, as a note, as long as we're in the u.s., whites will be seen as a racial majority--regardless of what city we live in.
penelope Monday, March 11, 2002 at 19:13:31 (PST)

I had to get involved in this debate because it is just too interesting. Let's root out the B.S. here. First off truth, what nationality are you and where did your bad racial experiences occur in So. Cal? Who gave you a hard time: Latinos (it sounds like you are heading in this direction), Blacks? Asians? Mixed? No one said LA is a racial utopia, that couldn't be farther from the truth -the truth.

LA is what the rest of mainstream America will look like in about 15 years. The rest of America will go through what LA is going through right now -There will be ethnic isolation, racial tensions and yes even outbreaks of violence. However, if racial harmony is going to be achieved anywhere first it will be LA because Angelinos are progressing from culture shock to cultural understanding and forced hegemony. In many instances there is a lot of cooperation between ethnic groups starting to occur.

If LA fails in the long run at race relations then America is in some serious trouble -We're talking Balkans-style. SF is like LA in terms of race only people are more segregated. The rich and poor don't interact on a regular basis like they do in LA, thus there are no tensions -just avoidance and negative stereotypes based on second hand information. This leads to closet racists.

That's what LA will always have over places like Boston, Seattle and SF -people that are not afraid to speak their minds. Sometimes conflict is necessary to flush out the heart of problems so that there can be meaningful discussions about how to solve these differences. The Bay area liberal rainbow coalition bullshit doesn't work because when you force people to get along in some sensitivity training course/experiment all you get is people who smile and nod in each other’s face without engaging in any meaningful discussion -You walk away with nothing.

I agree with "Steve, AM" that Los Angeles is the real deal; people say what is on their minds and get it out in the open. They then learn to joke with each other about racial stereotypes and learn they are for the most part equals. That's when people learn to get along, when they develop a mutual respect for each other based on a realized necessity for one and other to promote community betterment, business, commerce etc. That’s the only way you get true racial tolerance –otherwise people try to stick to their own kind and don’t get ahead.

This realization that race should not be a barrier is what is currently happening in LA right now. The whites and blacks are starting to respect Asians and Latinos. The Latinos are starting to respect the Asians and vice versa. The process to this mutual respect can be a very rocky road however with conflicts. Boston and Seattle for example have not reached this stage yet. LA, NY, Houston, Chicago, Miami and to some extent SF are cities that are setting the pace for the rest of the nation it terms of how to exist with no racial majority.

So truth, if you get a person calling you a name send it right back to them and see what they do -Don't just take it and whine about it later in some chat room. Find out what the problem is and try to solve it. LA is the most racist place and the least racist place in America depending on your point of view. If you clam up and keep to yourself you will always hate LA's racial diversity but if you open up and try to learn about other people you will be truly enlightened and ahead of your time.

That’s why people in LA and NY are the hippest people in the country; they know how to get along with everyone. I hope you get it someday…

the truth to the truth Monday, March 11, 2002 at 13:17:31 (PST)

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