Valley Fights Whites-Only Image

If we have to have gangs and would that we didn’t isn’t it comforting to know that we have white gangs, black gangs, Latino gangs, Asian gangs, and Armenian gangs? We’re so diverse! I don’t know if Our Valley also hosts Samoan gangs, Jewish gangs or Canadian gangs, but it would not be surprising to learn that we did. Just in the last two weeks, I’ve seen signs in the Valley in Armenian (Glendale), Spanish (Pacoima), Hebrew (Encino), Thai (Van Nuys), Russian (Tarzana), Farsi (North Hollywood), Armenian (Glendale), and a few that I couldn’t tell you what language they were in. And yet the Valley’s reputation as a bastion of “white flight” continues to persist in films, literature and popular culture. But that which was once true is not necessarily true today. There’s no denying that much of Our Valley’s post-World War II growth is based on Anglos fleeing the city’s homogenizing core; that the proliferation of private schools and the anti-school-busing movement was more about race than education; and that many Valley real estate covenants contained clauses such as: “No one whose blood is not entirely of the Caucasian race will be permitted to own property in this subdivision.” That effectively kept out those whose skin color was black, brown, or yellow. The most recent demographic figures show what a melting pot the Valley has become. Of the 1,742,760 of us, 61 percent are Caucasian, 41 percent Latino, 11 percent Asian, and 4 percent African American. Many of us are part of more than one group, accounting for a total above 100 percent. But our “Whites Only” history, although long a thing of the past, persists in the minds, and pens, of out-of-touch writers. Just a few years ago, for example, John Patterson, editorializing in the highly respected English newspaper, The Guardian, wrote, with more than a touch of that vaunted British snobbishness: “The Valley (is) acquiring its share of intoxicated residents eager to proselytize (sic) on its behalf, to hymn its lily-white weirdness, and mine its rich seams of inch-deep history and suburban surrealism The catalogue of differences extends to the Valley’s beleaguered suburban homesteader mindset, its near-Iowan racial homogeneity, and even its climate If [a successful secession movement occurred] the resulting metropolis would be the nation’s seventh largest, and by some considerable measure its whitest.” John, you’re a generation or two out of date. But just to demonstrate how pervasive the outdated “white flight” to the Valley image is even today, this is a snippet from CBS’s Katie Couric’s May 11, 2007, online interview with urbanist Joel Kotkin. Katie asks: ” How is Antonio Villaraigosa doing in a city that has long seen tension between its rising Latino population, its significant African-American minority, and ‘white flight’ toward the San Fernando Valley and away from the city center?” Joel responds: “The Valley is not losing whites as fast as before, I believe, but cannot be sure. Many areas are becoming attractive to middle class of all ethnicities, including in particular Persians, Armenians and Asians, but also many entertainment industry people.” In other words, Katie still thinks that there’s “white flight” to the Valley, while Joel talks about “white flight” from the Valley. Katie, get with the program. The truth is, the Valley as a whole has become home to people from every corner (how can a round planet have corners?) of the globe, yet they tend to congregate with others of similar backgrounds. People have been living with others like themselves from the beginning of society. They grapple with some of the same issues, enjoy the same foods, laugh at the same jokes in essence, we all feel most comfortable with others with whom we share something in common. In Boston, the Italians and Irish staked out their own neighborhoods; in Chicago, there are sharp demarcations between various nationalities’ residential areas; and the Valley is no different. There’s nothing wrong with people choosing to live with others of their racial, national or ethnic background as long as they do so because they want to, not because they have to. If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life’s exciting variety, not something to fear. — Gene Roddenberry Creator of Star Trek Martin Cooper is President of Cooper Communications, Inc., marketing and strategic planning. He is the Immediate Past Chairman of VICA; Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter and of the Encino Chamber of Commerce; President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission; and a member of the Los Angeles Business Retention and Attraction Task Force. He can be reached at [email protected].