Philadelphia is full of diversity this is true. It has Chinese, Arabs, Indians, Jamaicans, Italians, Armenians, and many more. LA has diversity and something much more special. I’ll tell you the difference between people of LA and people on the East Coast in regards to how they encounter diversity.
Both Los Angeles and Philadelphia are cradles of diversity. However, even in the most diverse parts of the East Coast, there is a sort of a undertone of resistance towards diversity. This undertone is called assimilation. I say this because in the East Coast, there is more of a notion that says, “Your in American you must speak well-spoken English if you're an immigrant/foreigner” Everyone has their own feelings about what an “American” should look like, talk like, and do. Los Angeles, on the other hand, is more forgiving on their perception of “American-ness”.
I was on the subway and I was standing next to this guy who visibly looked American-White but he was reading a Spanish book on the War on Drugs. I said to him politely, “You don’t look like you would know Spanish.” He says in a laughing manner, “That’s a racist comment”. We both laughed and shared a moment. He told me how he knew French first and now he is a teacher in LA so he picked up the language of Spanish, along with some attempts at Portuguese. I can’t express enough how I as a native Spanish-speaker, am just baffled every time I see someone who is not Spanish know some basic (or advanced) form of Spanish here in LA. It happens a-lot.
That never has happened to me in the East Coast.
The two congregations I visit the most both have White-American priests who probably speak better Spanish than myself. In my congregation, we sing songs in English, Spanish, and Japanese. It blows my mind that people here are more likely to learn other languages that are not their own just because it’s around them. In the East Coast that doesn’t happen. Learning another language to very conservative parts of the East Coast takes away from your “American-ness” for some people. In LA, learning another language is part of life for some people too.
Maybe it is because I also noticed that most people here come from a complex background of ancestry. I can recall two instances:
This light-brown haired, blue-eyed, White man approached me asking for my number (needless to say he did not get it) but we talked for a moment. He shared how he was a quarter Mexican, a quarter Apache, and half French Canadian. I never would have thought that he was.
Another instance is of a particular restaurant called Red Onion located in Palos Verdes, CA. When you walk in that restaurant, you’ll see it decorated in Wild West memorabilia and will be greeted by the owner, a White-American man. These observances are important for me to notice because I have an issue with other races capitalizing on another culture’s piece and making a profit out of it. Yes, I do have an issue with cultural appropriation. To my surprise, he prefaced his menu with a sheet entitled, Our History. I think it said something like, “You're probably thinking what is this White-guy doing with a Mexican restaurant”. I read that and thought, “Actually, I am.” He goes into the history of his grandfather marrying a Mexican women and how he grew up with a fond memory of the delicious food and so, was the start of his family’s business long ago.
Those are two very distinct instances, that I judged someone before knowing their story. I’m not saying LA or even California is perfect when it comes to diversity. Heck, I just finished reading the article, about the protest against allowing undocumented persons to get licences! So I know not all Caucasian-Californian-Americans aren’t all open to diversity and inclusion. What I do know is that the majority of people that I come in contact here are in comparison to people in the East Coast.
