Not Exactly 'Multi-Cultural', If You Know What I Mean

Moscow has 12 million people in it, give or take a few. I believe it is the 15th largest city in the world. And today I saw my -- wait, lemme count -- fourth black person!

Why do I bother to point that out, you ask? Because visually, that's about the equivalent of:

white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white black white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white white

Its pretty hard not to notice. I'd probably notice less if these people were outlined in neon and blinking, because then they'd just blend in with all of the casinos and restaurants. (Oh, and close on their tails are the 3 Indians that work at the restaurant over by the University. Whew!)

Ahem: Moscow / diversity = IHOP / diversity

At the risk of making some sweeping, ugly American generalizations**, as far as I can tell its like a diversity vacuum here. The one minority of any size that's fairly obvious here are those of an (apparent) Asian/Mongol/-stan background, and the reason I notice them so much is because they seem to have all the crap jobs - handing out flyers, sweeping the streets, cleaning tables, etc.

I'm totally aware that the US has plenty of diversity and racism problems of its own. I'll admit; pot, kettle, black. But superficially at least, it feels similar here in some of those regards. Just very odd to see it on this scale (especially coming from San Francisco) as well as different faces playing different 'roles', if that makes sense. Its a subtle difference that makes it disconcerting.

**Disclaimer: I've been here 5 whole days, a good portion of which I've either been asleep or drinking. Moscow *might* be where Benetton gets all of its models or where Disney got the idea for "Its a Small World", but I've yet to see it.