I live in Washington these days--the mecca of the stateless, where party conversation inevitably leads to the innocuous question: Where are you from? How did we get to this point? Simi Valley in the early s had more citrus and walnut groves than houses and was decidedly exurban when my parents moved there from Boston.
For a large family with one paycheck, it was a case of segregation by income. Simi Valley, far from Los Angeles and not yet linked by freeway, offered the best value for your buck in houses and, with a small down-payment, you could have yourself a mortgage--regardless of race.
As the community grew, so did its diversity, and my circle of friends encompassed Latinos, Asians and African-Americans. Contrary to popular belief, Simi Valley never became racially exclusive. By , things started to happen that would really put it on the map. Simi Valley gained international attention for the first time when it hosted the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The significance of the fact that four of the five presidents gathered were Republicans was not lost on anyone and underscored the conservative character of the populace.
Then, somehow, the Rodney King trial was assigned to the court in Simi Valley, and my hometown was catapulted to international notoriety when, in the wake of an unjust verdict, the bloodiest racial riots of this century erupted.
One year later, the acquitted officers are on trial again on federal charges, and we stand braced for the possibility of renewed explosions of racial tensions. Have we learned anything in the interim? Given my own small experience with prejudice, and given the continuing racial tensions and the discrimination and increasing violence against gays and lesbians around the country, I am hard pressed to say we have.
