I don't think most people realize how good life was for white people or how bad it was for everyone else in the 1950s

 A good illustration of this (just from what happened) is my experience as a 12 year old boy helping my father who was an electrical Contractor wiring a Catholic Nunnery not far from USC in Downtown Los Angeles. I got out and we began working. My job as a 12 year old was to familiarize myself with all parts my father used including wires and fittings and drills and staples and straps of various kinds as well as boxes and switches and other things. So, he could tell me what he wanted and from what bin on the Utility truck I could find all these things. A utility truck then and now likely is a pickup truck with a utility bodied truck with a different back end with bins and racks and such all built in for specific building trades or service personnel of various kinds.

But, every time I went outside black children would throw rocks at me from across the street and the truck and I had to keep watching out for these rocks so I wouldn't get hit in the head or eye or worse. So, I went inside since I was outside my Turf which was in Glendale and asked my father what he wanted me to do.

He said, "If I call the police 10 police cars and going to come here guns blazing and people are going to die. So, I don't want to call the police and be responsible for the deaths of children or locals. So, I want you to just dodge the rocks being thrown at you and the truck from across the street."

I was kind of horrified at his answer on many different levels. But, I dutifully did what he said.

The rocks kept coming and nicked the windows of the truck and it's utility body and a few smaller rocks hit me but I avoided getting hit in the head or eye.

This was not an unusual occurrence then in black areas of Los Angeles or in other cities around the country.

If you understand just how serious these kinds of situations were then you know that mostly white people stayed out of areas where black people lived so they didn't get beat up or die then in 1960 most places in this country (even in California where black people actually might talk to white people and it would be okay with everyone) not like many places in the South or East Coast then.