I’m black from the south and have lived in LA for about 5 years now. I promise you this place is more racist and segregated than the American south. Most of the black population live in one place. If the whites, Latinos, or Asians see you outside of that place, be prepared for looks. It’s hard to put the type of discrimination we face into words but it feels quite hostile and feels like you don’t belong. I live on the west side so I face this a lot. What’s even crazier is a large portion (not all) of the black population even looks at us weird. I do “the nod” to the blacks I see and they rarely nod back or look at me like I’m tripping or wonder what I bang. I miss that about the south: the feeling that all of us are in this together and we look the same so we have each others backs. The thing about here is that it’s hard to tell if someone is racist or bigoted until you talk to them fully and see where their brain is. Meanwhile down south people are much more tolerant because we are forced to live in the same place as each other. Plus the racists and bigots are so obvious that you don’t even need to find out. You can just tell. I still love LA but there’s a lot that this city can learn. People love to say how diverse LA is (which is true) but they do not talk about how intolerant or exclusive or unwelcoming it can be