Longview, Texas and rednecks. (Houston, San Antonio: fit in, house, schools)

[TexasNick]

Now imagine if you said...whites make better CEOs or something like that. Most would say that is a fact, but is that racist?

[blueskies49]

I'm kind of bothered by the expansion of the term "redneck" these days, no thanks in small part to Jeff Foxworthy! Most of the posters here gave explanations of what it typically means, at least what it used to. Jeff Foxworthy equates being redneck with white trash! Is it just me or is that anyone else's take on it? I agree that there are country boys and girls all around the country but historically, a redneck meant a Southerner and for all the reasons everyone has already mentioned. And speaking of that song "Redneck Woman", the singer is a yankee from Illinois and is not a redneck. Listen to the words of the song, they're ridiculous, IMO.

Well, that's just my .02 cents!

[calvin9495]

Okay.....I lived in Longview for 7 years when I was younger. I'm not even going to touch the whole "redneck" issue. :-)

However, I did want to point out one thing that I've experienced personally, as well as friends. True, there are warm, friendly people in Longview, but there's also the flip side, particularly among women. There are a lot of "cliques" in Longview, and many of them are comprised of people who've known each other since high school. They can be very unwelcoming to newcomers. Every person I know who has moved to Longview as an adult has experienced this. One of my good friends was finally "accepted" into her current group of friends (gosh, this sounds awfully "high school," doesn't it? And these people are all their 30s) after about 2 years of joining church and community groups. She says she still feels somewhat like an outsider, though, at times.

Just something to watch out for.

[solytaire]

Originally Posted by TexasNick

Now imagine if you said...whites make better CEOs or something like that. Most would say that is a fact, but is that racist?

I often contemplated the same question. But I arrived at this conclusion: I dont quite appreciate the notion that blacks are better athletes altogether. They may be more PRACTICED athletes (meaning that: historically as blacks were denied access to equal education, they had to find alternate means of marketing themselves as assets to society so that they might generate income for themselves & their families...i.e. mastering song, dance, & athletics). However, the same could be said of women and cooking/sewing/homemaking etc. These minority groups became products of their circumstances (not trying to slip the ol victim's card in here but hey, its the truth).

But are blacks naturally physically superior to whites and other ethnicities?...I contend that they are not. I say this because when you suggest that blacks are better at sports, physical exertion, labor, etc. you must also wait for the other foot to drop. That is to say that conversely, whites (the presumed dichotomous opposite of blacks.) must be inherently more intelligent. This is often thought of but rarely spoken. But I know it MUST be in the conscience of many whites, and probably many blacks, as exemplified by an earlier posters comment about white CEO's. As a black male who has played a panoply of sports, I refuse to subscribe to the inference that the sum of my existence is uniquely comprised by the sole tangent of my physical attributes.

This is not to suggest that those who may put forth that blacks are better athletes are "Racists", or "bigots", through process of omission. I am simply saying that you cant have one without the other...but the other is never spoken of.

[me-and-boss]

i just wanted to say that being a white man who grew up in ohio now living in california, and wanting to move to texas for reasons a lot of people would think are goofy. i grew up and still live around so called non-whites and i found so many of them became some of my best friends. i grew up looking at people for what they do or did not what color their skin is. thanks for reading

[CODEWARRIOR]

Good luck as well. I'm a native born Texan, but have never really been the stereotypical Southerner. The term "redneck" came from blue collar, laborers who are in the sun a lot, and generally are of eastern European extraction (English, Irish, Czech, etc.) who tend to burn easily due to light skin, and since they work outside with t-shirts on, and have short hair, get "red necks" as a result of the burned skin, but have white chests and upper arms (interesting pattern for when they ever visit a beach).

The deal about being called a "Yankee" if you are from California, stems from the fact that Californians in general DO talk a bit faster, articulate better than Southern folk, and if people do not have a great exposure to different dialects, they think you must be a Northerner. While we are at it, I've lived in most parts of Texas except West Texas, and folks from "Big D" (Dallas) often sound like Yankees compared to deep east Texans (folks from Crocket, Lufkin, Tyler, etc.) partly because of accent and partly because of speed of speech.

The cost of living is never an absolute, but instead, always is really the comparison of your income, relative to your rent, utilities, gas, etc. In other words, if you have Bill Gates income, the "cost of living" is not that high. And, I moved from Austin to deep east Texas, and my rent in a townhome in Austin, was comparable to the rent I pay for a small duplex in east Texas.

The fact is, there is racism everywhere. Remember Rodney King? He was in California, and the post-verdict riots, those were in California. And, what about the so-called "Zoot Suit Riots" back during the 1940s, those were in Los Angeles California too, fights that were racially motivated ( sailors and soldiers vs. mexican youth). And, how about the insitutionalized, racist gang violence in the barrios in So Cal ?

And, certainly NYC is not a model of racial harmony. Look at Bedford-Stiverson in New York , or the South Side of Chi Town (Chicago). Many people say that the Southern racism is more up front and in your face, more honest and up north, where it is there, but more hidden, more behind your back.

I guess I would be a "whiteneck" because I am a white collar professional and have long hair, but am of Native American heritage on my mom's father's side, and german on her mother's side, and Jewish on my father's side.

If you don't think there is some potential for having some prejudice against me based on my ethnicity, then you don't understand racism. But, looking at me, you would never know I had either the Native American or Jewish in my background. In fact, most skinhead Aryans would welcome me as a German based on my appearance and the fact I can speak some German.

Perhaps one of the most racist places in Texas (i.e. white Racists) is a little community not far from Beaumont called "Vidor". The town is about 99.999 pure white, the Ivory soap of towns in Texas, and they like it that way.

The point is, you can't live your life trying to please people, because there will always be some folks you never can please. Racism ultimately hurts the people harboring it far more than it does the people they are prejudiced against.

In closing, live well and focus on making friends with good people, because there are good people in just about every place you may find yourself, even if sometimes, it is hard to find them.
~Code

[NOTAM]

i am surprised to hear how "white" Vidor is, because I thought most all of East Texas is heavily black. how do they keep Vidor so "caucasian" when they are surrounded by all the other areas in East Texas? just curious......

Originally Posted by CODEWARRIOR

Good luck as well. I'm a native born Texan, but have never really been the stereotypical Southerner. The term "redneck" came from blue collar, laborers who are in the sun a lot, and generally are of eastern European extraction (English, Irish, Czech, etc.) who tend to burn easily due to light skin, and since they work outside with t-shirts on, and have short hair, get "red necks" as a result of the burned skin, but have white chests and upper arms (interesting pattern for when they ever visit a beach).

The deal about being called a "Yankee" if you are from California, stems from the fact that Californians in general DO talk a bit faster, articulate better than Southern folk, and if people do not have a great exposure to different dialects, they think you must be a Northerner. While we are at it, I've lived in most parts of Texas except West Texas, and folks from "Big D" (Dallas) often sound like Yankees compared to deep east Texans (folks from Crocket, Lufkin, Tyler, etc.) partly because of accent and partly because of speed of speech.

The cost of living is never an absolute, but instead, always is really the comparison of your income, relative to your rent, utilities, gas, etc. In other words, if you have Bill Gates income, the "cost of living" is not that high. And, I moved from Austin to deep east Texas, and my rent in a townhome in Austin, was comparable to the rent I pay for a small duplex in east Texas.

The fact is, there is racism everywhere. Remember Rodney King? He was in California, and the post-verdict riots, those were in California. And, what about the so-called "Zoot Suit Riots" back during the 1940s, those were in Los Angeles California too, fights that were racially motivated ( sailors and soldiers vs. mexican youth). And, how about the insitutionalized, racist gang violence in the barrios in So Cal ?

And, certainly NYC is not a model of racial harmony. Look at Bedford-Stiverson in New York , or the South Side of Chi Town (Chicago). Many people say that the Southern racism is more up front and in your face, more honest and up north, where it is there, but more hidden, more behind your back.

I guess I would be a "whiteneck" because I am a white collar professional and have long hair, but am of Native American heritage on my mom's father's side, and german on her mother's side, and Jewish on my father's side.

If you don't think there is some potential for having some prejudice against me based on my ethnicity, then you don't understand racism. But, looking at me, you would never know I had either the Native American or Jewish in my background. In fact, most skinhead Aryans would welcome me as a German based on my appearance and the fact I can speak some German.

Perhaps one of the most racist places in Texas (i.e. white Racists) is a little community not far from Beaumont called "Vidor". The town is about 99.999 pure white, the Ivory soap of towns in Texas, and they like it that way.

The point is, you can't live your life trying to please people, because there will always be some folks you never can please. Racism ultimately hurts the people harboring it far more than it does the people they are prejudiced against.

In closing, live well and focus on making friends with good people, because there are good people in just about every place you may find yourself, even if sometimes, it is hard to find them.
~Code

[blueskies49]

This is an interesting link on the origins of hillbillies, rednecks, crackers and others. Very thought-provoking! I copied the redneck part but you can read about the other terms at this website.
Scottish Hillbillies and Rednecks, Scotland - UK History.

REDNECKS
The origins of this term Redneck are Scottish and refer to supporters of the National Covenant and The Solemn League and Covenant, or "Covenanters", largely Lowland Presbyterians, many of whom would flee Scotland for Ulster (Northern Ireland) during persecutions by the British Crown. The Covenanters of 1638 and 1641 signed the documents that stated that Scotland desired the Presbyterian form of church government and would not accept the Church of England as its official state church.
Many Covenanters signed in their own blood and wore red pieces of cloth around their necks as distinctive insignia; hence the term "Red neck", (rednecks) which became slang for a Scottish dissenter*. One Scottish immigrant, interviewed by the author, remembered a Presbyterian minister, one Dr. Coulter, in Glasgow in the 1940's wearing a red clerical collar -- is this symbolic of the "rednecks"? Since many Ulster-Scottish settlers in America (especially the South) were Presbyterian, the term was applied to them, and then, later, their Southern descendants. One of the earliest examples of its use comes from 1830, when an author noted that "red-neck" was a "name bestowed upon the Presbyterians." It makes you wonder if the originators of the ever-present "redneck" joke are aware of the term’s origins - Rednecks?

[SAtoDallas]

Originally Posted by bellestaroftexas

i am surprised to hear how "white" Vidor is, because I thought most all of East Texas is heavily black. how do they keep Vidor so "caucasian" when they are surrounded by all the other areas in East Texas? just curious......

Have you ever been to East TX it's pretty white. It's the only area in TX I've been pulled over by DPS( heck I had just moved back to TX) so they could check my vehicle, and I've been all over except far West TX. Even when I lived in VA I was never pulled over, and I drove from end to end.

[NOTAM]

driven through....i reckon maybe it depends on what part of East Texas. it was my impression that areas like Huntsville and Beaumont and Houston have a large african-american population, no?
i will be honest, i am not famliar with East Texas, have driven through it many a time, stopped in places.......

Originally Posted by SAtoDallas

Have you ever been to East TX it's pretty white. It's the only area in TX I've been pulled over by DPS( heck I had just moved back to TX) so they could check my vehicle, and I've been all over except far West TX. Even when I lived in VA I was never pulled over, and I drove from end to end.