Californians are more likely to live among people of different races than they were in 1990, but the Los Angeles area stands out as the most segregated part of the state, according to an analysis of census data.
The percentage of California residents living in largely segregated neighborhoods dropped by almost half from 1990 to 2000, while the percentage of those in racially mixed areas more than doubled, according to the study by the Public Policy Institute of California, a San Francisco-based nonprofit research group.
The report said rapid Latino population growth pushed many heavily Latino cities and neighborhoods in Greater Los Angeles into the category of "segregated," which it defined as one ethnic or racial group forming the overwhelming majority of residents in an area. An example would be South Gate, which, at 92% Latino, was ranked as the third most segregated community in the state.
The report, to be released Wednesday, does not employ the traditional definition of segregation, in which laws and racism kept people separated. The segregation it describes appears to be more the result of immigration and economic patterns.
"The nature of segregation, how and why it occurs, is very different," said Hans P. Johnson of the Public Policy Institute, one of the study's authors.
In 1990, 56% of the segregated neighborhoods in Los Angeles County were primarily white, according to the report. By 2000, 70% of the segregated neighborhoods were Latino.
During that period, however, the number of segregated neighborhoods in Los Angeles County declined. In 1990, 35% of Los Angeles neighborhoods were segregated, but by 2000 the percentage dropped to 26% of neighborhoods.
Latino immigration contributed to the overall drop in segregation as well as the creation of newly segregated neighborhoods. In cities such as Bellflower, neighborhoods that once had a white majority became more diverse as their Latino populations increased.
James P. Allen, a Cal State Northridge professor who studies the ethnic makeup of Los Angeles, said "segregation" is no longer an appropriate term to describe such population changes. "Segregation implies a rigid Jim Crow system separating blacks and whites," he said.
Those who can afford to "are relatively free to leave those ethnic enclaves. It's mostly voluntary and nothing pernicious," Allen said of the growth in Latino communities. Thus Allen said he uses the term "separation" rather than segregation to describe the Los Angeles communities that have become less diverse.
