I'm sure this happens, but it is still a generalization. I see all types hanging out together in NYC. Sure, there are ethnic neighborhoods, but no real segregation. The co-op thing? I've never personally seen it...and I work with many different ethnicities (in finance) that are in co-ops in NYC.
jsrockit, your point is that you personally have not seen segregation in NYC? With all due respect, so what? You have not seen "real" segregation? Let me take you to the South Bronx or to Harlem; I'll introduce you to some folks who would offer a somewhat different assessment. Or do those places not count because they are "ethnic neighborhoods." Personally, I see the Upper East Side and the West Village as "ethnic neighborhoods" and the South Bronx and Harlem as "normal" but that's neither here nor there.
As for Vic's characterization of the blog of FSA images, I would not call it "a great chronicle of the apartheid system that still exists today in many places." Speaking of generalities, I don't think that particular generality does justice to the sometimes blunt and sometimes subtle portrayal of issues of race in the FSA images. Nor to the very specific and vile system known as apartheid in South Africa. To be clear, the FSA photographers were appalled by the racism of this country and worked hard to illustrate it so the images could be used in the fight to eradicate it. Look at Gordon Parks' portraits of Ella Watson, very controversial images at the time.
http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/fsa/8b14000/8b14800/8b14845r.jpg
And yet the FSA collection also addressed other social problems such as drought, poverty and hunger, both in rural and (to a lesser degree) urban areas. Thus I think Vic's blanket statement is not really accurate.
I appreciate Vic's sensitivity to the race issues that are apparent in this collection of FSA images, but I see his characterization as somewhat superficial - I see the blog more as a selection of highlights of the FSA color photo collection which in turn chronicled quite accurately the American reality of the time. And it should be noted that the FSA color collection is a tiny fraction of the total FSA archive. I do agree with Vic that in our world issues of race are complex and prevasive.
For a selection of FSA images that deals directly with the issue of segregation in the US, check out this collection of images, hosted by the Library of Congress itself,
Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination: Documentation by Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographers
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/085_disc.html
At least this sort of open discrimination is not longer permitted; discrimination is more subtle now, at least in the US.
