We needed to leave the Deep South, but it wasn’t necessarily the South’s fault altogether. It often has retrograde public policies, unnecessary poverty and infuriating, stubborn refusals to invest in the public good. In Southern California, by contrast, public policy and programs are better funded and more effective. ‘Culture of Neighborhood’The Deep South and the Southland are merely American variations on American themes. Both the Deep South and Southern California are among the most racially diverse places in the nation, but both are reverting to form.