I was having a conversation out here with someone who'd been to Sacramento, been there a few times, when I mentioned that I'd read somewhere that Sacramento was the most integrated large city in America.
"That makes sense," they said, "because there's so much white trash there."
I was incredulous at first, but then they went on to say that since white trash are a subset of poor white people, and poor people tend to live poorer communities rather than wealthier communities. Minorities, on the whole, may not get to enjoy such affluent lifestyles, or at least the percentage of affluent minorities compared to non-affluent minorities is smaller maybe than the percentage of affluent white people versus non-affluent white people. Maybe the ratios for white people and minorities are the same, but the sheer number of white people skews the view.
Whereas the Asian or Asian-American minorities might have the affluent/non-affluent ratios switched, black people, Latinos, and the Miwok and Maidu probably all conform to the ratio, and when you add in the large group of poor Russians and the white trash, you get melting pot areas of "high integration".
They assured me that my brother and his girl, and my "brother" and his wife, surely weren't trashy, and this is true, but they also said, "Have you ever been to Denio's? Ever walked around North Highlands?"
Being shocked that they'd even heard of Denio's or the North Highlands neighborhood, I said I was from Citrus Heights, and they said, "Oh. So you know..."
Sounded almost like fighting words, but I'm not going to fight someone over insulting Sacramento. And, sadly, they're correct about the amount of white trash. It is almost something to marvel at if it weren't so sad and funny.
Ok, so it's hard for me to read this and not get upset. I understand the points that the two of you made and agree with the majority. One thing I'd like to bring in to weigh is, the cost of living in the state of California, Sacramento included. I have friends who railroad and make equal or greater pay than me but live in Texas, Oaklahoma, Idaho, etc., and let me tell ya, they're living in those areas equivalent of our Granite Bay or Eldorado Hills here in Nor Cal. I'd have to TRIPLE or more my current earnings to aspire to that area!! Just venting.........
ReplyDeleteVent away, man...while Sacramento has certain amount of white trash, which was a strange connection to an integrated city that I hadn't yet made, it is still in California. Cost of living there is outrageous compared with most places. I just got it touch with Melly Mel, who's living with her husband and baby in Oregon on five acres and it's all paid for, for under $90,000. In OKC we saw ads for nice places, really nice, for $85,000, and rather small places for $45,000.
ReplyDeleteI guess I was really trying to write about perspective, and being poor in California might seem the same as being poor in Mississippi, but it definitely isn't when you factor in costs of rent and living and paid wages and salaries. I'm assuming that doesn't mean that a poor person from CA would be able to move to MS just to cash in on being slightly better off...that seems cost-prohibitive...
Still, the poorest Americans from the poorest state would still be considered wealthy in Sudan...could they ever get there to see what that status is like? I pretty much doubt it.