A Double Loss to the News-Press Copy Desk

OK, maybe the entire story did not appear online when I read it because I'm failing to understand why Barney is injecting Redding's race into this story? Could someone who reads (and perhaps Barney himself) explain to me why Mr. Redding's race is being mentioned?

I remember years ago when a friend's daughter moved to SB from Tucson. After about three days in SB we were all at lunch and she turned to my friend and all of us and said: "Where are all the black people?"

My friend is white, her daughter is black. The rest of us are mutts of all sorts. We had no answer for her. Other than: "I dont think they allow black people here...well, not beyond a certain quota..." and we all took off on the usual discussions about racial diversity, culture, and the utter lack of either in Santa Barbara

Barney, the reason black journalists in Santa Barbara are such rarities is that Santa Barbara doesn't exactly welcome black people with open arms. In Santa Barbara, you are either white or you're brown, period. Oh sure, there are a few others allowed in SB to give the appearance of "diversity" but don't push it.

I knew that when I moved there in 1973 from Chicago; I went into a years-long culture shock wondering where all the various ethnicities of people, neighborhoods, restaurants, shops, music etc were hiding. I felt like I was living in some horrifying Twilight Zone episode where all the people had been removed and carefully replaced with specially made replicas of the right color and appearance in order to fit into some sort of demented Chamber of Commerce Master Plan.

I realized I was in a city which carefully strained out anything not white or what they think is hispanic. Hispanics are OK as long as they fit into one of the city-approved stereotypes; gang-banger, needy family with a million kids they can't afford and another on the way, angry racist, gardener, maid, nanny...etc.

I was in a city which held an annual week-long alcohol-soaked Bacchanal celebrating the genocide of the Chumash by the Spanish invaders. I was in a city which did not welcome any other cultures except white or hispanic ones. Period.

Where are all the black journalists? With the rest of the black people, red people, Asians, mutts, Europeans, etc; anywhere but Santa Barbara, where our colors, religions and cultures are not welcome.

We all migrated to or stayed in places where we were wanted and actually had a shot at succeeding, owning a home, having a business, being able to afford a family, and not being negatively targeted because we didn't fit into Santa Barbara's carefully engineered socioeconomic zoo exhibit maintained for the benefit of tourists and rich people.

Don't hold your breath, Barney, because you "aren't in Kansas anymore"....Santa Barbara is culturally as far from a vibrant city like Chicago as it is in light years from Antares. Get used to it.

If you want to see people who aren't white, brown, rich or dead poor, you have to break the glass of the terrarium you live in and go to a real city or town. Get out of the zoo exhibit you are existing in. It's not normal.

It occurred to me that when I was attending Santa Barbara High School back in the late 70's a teacher told the class that the high school had the following demographics: 46% White, 43% Mexican, and 3% Black. Bear in mind that Santa Barbara High School had the highest concentration of Blacks of the then-three high schools in the area and that unless I'm wrong, no significant change in the Black demographic has happened since then so the overall percentage of Black people in the area is probably much lower than 3%. Of course if I'm wrong about that, please let me know of any changes.

"I dont think they allow black people here...well, not beyond a certain quota..."

Well Holly,

I submit that you are the real bigot here. There are plenty of reasonable explanations why there isn't a large black population here, none of them having to do with racism.

Mostly, I suspect, that up until recently, this has been an agricultural and resort area. One that doesn't appeal or have roots into the West Coast urban black population. Middle class labor in general has been chased out of this town. No one wants to compete in the race to the bottom of the wage scale which is the result of allowing and enabling the importation of the "we're only looking for a better life" crowd.

Apparently your PC sensibilities haven't been so offended that you haven't moved out in 30 years...I hear there's a nice safe two bedroom apt in Inglewood with your name on it. I'm sure the locals there would love to have you as a neighbor so they can share some of their diverse culture with you.

Should I keep holding my breath until Barney explains why he injected race into this article in the first place?

Bill, it could be that race is an issue here simply because newspapers in general (can't speak specifically to the News-Press) have come to realize that having a racially diverse staff typically benefits everyone. Newspapers want their staffs to reflect their communities, and having a more diverse staff tends to lead to more diverse ideas and coverage.
Again, I can't speak specifically to the News-Press and racial diversity, but I CAN say that Cliff Redding is a GREAT guy, and the newspaper has lost another good journalist.