'It caused me a momentary check to be on the receiving end of racist belligerence.'

Helen Angove wonders why there is so much prejudice in two of the world's most well developed countries

Being English and white, I have never been the victim of racism. The other day, however, I stumbled across a nasty piece of anti-immigration invective in which the writer listed some of his pet hates. The list included "pregnant foreigners".

This concentrated my attention rather. Until four months ago, I was one of the aforementioned "pregnant foreigners".

Admittedly, as a Caucasian, middle class, professional foreigner, who will probably go back to her home country eventually, I'm probably not highest on his hate list. Nevertheless, it caused me a momentary check to be on the receiving end of racist belligerence.

The overwhelming majority of people I've met over here have been polite, charming and genuinely friendly. Yet there is, occasionally, an undercurrent of hostility.

Shock

It was a shock to find myself treated to a tirade about "foreigners coming over here and interfering in our business", (I was; but only because the young man in question was harassing one of my neighbours), and a shock to discover that English accents are sometimes perceived as arrogant.

This of course, is nothing to the prejudice faced by Hispanic and Asian immigrants, illegal or otherwise. When we first came to LA, we were nonplussed at how familiar the landscape and buildings seemed - because, we eventually realised, of the huge number of films and television programmes made in Southern California.

But, although the movies might portray the surroundings accurately, they don't portray the ethnic mix of the population. Black people are reasonably well represented, but Hispanic people are largely invisible on the mainstream media.

There is almost a caste system - service industries such as gardening, road work and swimming-pool maintenance are almost invariably carried out by the Hispanic sector of the population.

Public transport, (which after all is largely only used by the lower income bracket, this being the city where the car is king) is also telling - I was surprised the other day, to find myself very nearly the only non-Hispanic Caucasian in a very crowded Metro carriage.

Rudeness

Its also interesting to notice, that when you're in a situation where you find a lot of immigrants (Social Services, or the Department of Motor Vehicles) suddenly the normal charming politeness of public officials is replaced with - well, frankly, rudeness.

I will be glad never again to have to take a California driving test because the examiner was so unpleasant about my driving abilities - this, mind you, after I had passed.

I'm not even going try to comment on the rights and wrongs of immigration in an enormous and densely overpopulated conurbation, where I myself am an immigrant. But I do find the prejudice it generates a little disconcerting, given that this country is to all intents and purposes founded on a grand tradition of immigration.

Moreover, the ethnic diversity, and the way in which the different traditions tend to meld into a coherent national identity, are some of the things that make it so fascinating to live here. For example, St Patrick's Day is verging on becoming a national holiday, and from where I live, I can visit "El Pueblo", "Little Tokyo", and "Chinatown" for the cost of a two-buck metro ride.

Mentioning "El Pueblo" here makes me aware of an irony - for "El Pueblo" is the historic original settlement of the LA area (excepting those of the Native Americans) founded, of course, by Hispanic settlers.

Guilty

Of course, the British too, are guilty of prejudice. I was lucky enough, the other day, to meet Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion (It does make me laugh when he is described as "the first gay bishop" without the qualifier).

We had a brief conversation about the respective situations in our countries regarding prejudice. But whilst parts of the US are slightly further ahead than the UK on the issue of sexuality, there are plenty of prejudices that have lingered, and do linger, for longer here than in the UK.

As far as I can tell, there are similar prejudice issues both here and in the UK - it is simply the details that differ. Which begs the question - in two of the most well developed, wealthy and well educated countries on the planet, why is there so much prejudice of so many different kinds?

Helen Angove is an Anglican priest from the UK, who moved to California in July 2003.

• Read other Emails from America