RE: outlook25 May 2020 10:46
V111jas - talking of racially divided...and I bet not much is different now!
i spent time in cupertino, northern california some years back - I stayed on stevens creek boulevard near de anza college. (just over 20 years ago.)
The area I is was in, was predominantly white, with manicured lawns, clean streets and a very civilised manner.
We took the bus one day to head towards santa cruz - the first part of the journey was the long drive along the full length of stevens creek boulevard and onwards. (if i recall correctly)
as we journeyed along the street, slowly but surely the colour of the skin of the people on the bus changed from white to nearly all black and the general state of the street and premises on the route, were just slightly more untidy and in need of a paint job. Further along, we noticed that the colour of the skin of the majority on the bus, changed from black to brown and most were of indian appearance, which was closely followed by the change to a more far eastern appearance of passengers only. The state of the properties and street outside had taken quite a nose dive, with a lot more rubbish on the pavements and dilapidation was more evident. Further along the route, the colour of the skin of the passengers, returned to predominantly brown, however, the occupants were clearly of south american, hispanic origin and outside the bus the streets were littered with broken down cars, boarded up shops, people sitting indoor ways smoking in amongst piles of refuse.
The slow and steady decline in standard of living and how races lived apart, was a clear example of the full divide between communities in this part of northern california.
When I called the bus operator to ask what stop we got off at (before boarding - no mobile phone!), the employee asked me "what colour are you?"- I enquired why this was relevant - she said "if you are white, then do not get off before the stop at Bird Avenue - you will be in the south americans territory and it won't be safe to disembark the bus. They have rules - on the bus, safe, off the bus and not south american before bird avenue, not safe. We got off at Bird avenue.
Point being - like finds like, communities generally live amongst their own kind - the only slightly mixed race area was the predominantly rich white end of the road. Why was this - money - those with money, mainly lived in the richer predominantly white area, irrespective of their skin colour or origin - all others lived within their own racial group, in their own segment of town, without any mixed race living at all and hardly any cash between them.
I moved on to Belmont and Carmel after this and these areas were spotless and exceptionally well run - at least the areas I visited were!
Not sure about today, but I bet it isn't much different - as societies rarely change and if they do, it is at a snails pace.
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