Diversity Prompts Increased Racial Isolation; ABC News, 12/28/13

Martha Mendoza, ABC News; Diversity Prompts Increased Racial Isolation: "Rising immigration hasn't made Watsonville more diverse; it is a community heading toward racial isolation, a growing phenomenon in a state that offers one possible look at how the nation may change as non-Hispanic whites become a minority in the coming months... Current Mayor Lowell Hurst, who is not Hispanic, said in his 30 years in Watsonville, the community has changed a lot. "We have more people that probably lack legal status and that means more people that are really kind of living in the shadows," he said. "Certainly there's been white flight from this city as people's economic status improves and they wish to have better opportunities. He added: "But do people flee because of race or language? I don't know." Hurst said many residents appreciate the Latino influence. "I think a lot of people would like to put the differences of race on the back burners and focus more on economic opportunity and celebrate the diversity of cultures that exist," he said."