East Texas Rednecks (Beaumont, Port Arthur, Spring: to buy, gated, living)

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

Is east Texas really a bunch of rednecks like most people in Texas seem to think or is this an untrue stereotype?

The problem is all the coon-asses from Louisiana and cross-tooths from Arkansas that seem to trickle in to avoid taxes, bad roads and banjo rapists. Every so often we get some "chosen people" from Boston stirring up trouble as well.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by tstone

What kind of stories come out of East TX for the nation to see? Well let's see...

The Dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper is pretty famous.

Vidor was a sundown town and some people believe it still is. The rep is still around somewhat for all the white-flight towns in the Golden Triangle that aren't Beaumont, Port Arthur or Orange. (correct or not) One thing I know for a fact is "black" is probably the most vulgar word around here.

In Spring, the ''white power'' kid beat & sodomized a Hispanic boy with a pipe. Hispanic boy committed suicide by jumping off a cruise ship shortly thereafter.

Tenaha, the cops are allegedly robbing people (esp blacks) who pass through the town. There is a class-action suit brewing right now.

Now, several weeks ago in the Liberty area some deliverance-type inbreds shot and killed some children who were coming back from an evening @ the river.

So as you can see some of the most disgusting stories in the nation come out of East Texas. The media will continue to perpetuate these stereotypes until certain people out there clean up their act.

BTW, why is it so difficult to find a clean public restroom or fast food joint in E/NE TX??? This region is almost as funky as the Central Valley of CA. Somebody please pass these people some soap and show them how to use a sink.

Is this a challenge? Shall we dig out the disgusting stories from the rest of the country to counter your particular prejudice (no matter who it's aimed at, prejudice is prejudice and stinks just as much no matter who it's aimed at or even if you, yourself, are engaging in it, you know)? Trust me, there are plenty to go around, sad to say.

[TexasReb]

Easily Amused wrote: East Texas is still very weird. ..and very conservative. I hope it stays that way in may respects.

AMEN!

DesertSun41 wrote: I'm not sure if redneck is yet a banned word from our politically correct society yet....give it time and it will too. Hell yea there are rednecks here. But those rednecks will give you the shirt off your back and will always stop to help a complete stranger. They still do things and live a bit differently then societal norms.

Forget the stereotypes. They are just like everyone else. They just grew up in very rural areas having less restrictive laws then else where. They are probably happier then their city slicker comrads.

Well said, DS!

We just returned from Caddo Lake, near Jefferson and -- as is the invariable case when we take our at least once a year trip -- did not want to return home. Those folks out that way are my kind of people, and we plan to retire in East Texas. I have never had single unpleasant experience.

As you say, those "backwoods rednecks" (whatever the hell that means) will be the first to feed you, put you up for the night if you are stranded, stop and help you change a flat tire, or just pass the time of day with friendly conversation.

And what do they ask in turn? As you allude to, just to be left the hell alone by the federal government and crusading yankee do-gooders with a savior complex. And that their way of life respected...even if not embraced. They don't bother anyone else and rightfully expect the same in turn.

Their understanding (even if not always articulated in so many words) of the basic concepts of freedom this country was founded on are much more akin to that of the Founding Fathers than just about any PhD or politician or "talking head" extant.

I know I rambled a bit...but I would rather sit down and drink beer and eat good ol' country cookin' and talk fishing and hunting with that bunch than spend the same with the endive salad and quiche' crowd any day of the week.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Is this a challenge? Shall we dig out the disgusting stories from the rest of the country to counter your particular prejudice (no matter who it's aimed at, prejudice is prejudice and stinks just as much no matter who it's aimed at or even if you, yourself, are engaging in it, you know)? Trust me, there are plenty to go around, sad to say.

I'm sure there are other stories to go around from other areas that the media will hype up, especially in the rest of the South and Midwest. Unfortunately Texas gets the spotlight because it's a very big/influential state. I have no beef with anyone just because he is an East Texan. Don't read into anything I didn't write. I was just giving the only stories to come out of there that actually hit the national spotlight. Unfortunately when you're branded a felon, it's for life and beyond. People wonder "why the stereotypes??" and I gave the reason.

[An0nym0us88]

[quote=tstone;9336810]What kind of stories come out of East TX for the nation to see? Well let's see...

The Dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper is pretty famous.

Yeah, this was definitely horrendous.

Vidor was a sundown town and some people believe it still is. The rep is still around somewhat for all the white-flight towns in the Golden Triangle that aren't Beaumont, Port Arthur or Orange. (correct or not) One thing I know for a fact is "black" is probably the most vulgar word around here.

Sundown city isn't necessarily bad. That is what they choose to live.

In Spring, the ''white power'' kid beat & sodomized a Hispanic boy with a pipe. Hispanic boy committed suicide by jumping off a cruise ship shortly thereafter.

Yeah, this story really upset me, those so-called "White Power" kids are stupid. I can give you some of the government statistics about blacks on whites something that liberal media doesn't want to show you.

Tenaha, the cops are allegedly robbing people (esp blacks) who pass through the town. There is a class-action suit brewing right now.

Oh please, you listen to the liberal media too much don't you? Some of the officers are black and I believe the Police Chief is also. I been told by someone and I'm not far from this town when I go to university.

Now, several weeks ago in the Liberty area some deliverance-type inbreds shot and killed some children who were coming back from an evening @ the river.

I never heard of this story.

So as you can see some of the most disgusting stories in the nation come out of East Texas. The media will continue to perpetuate these stereotypes until certain people out there clean up their act.

I can tell you that Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia are pretty bad too if not worst than East Texas.

BTW, why is it so difficult to find a clean public restroom or fast food joint in E/NE TX??? This region is almost as funky as the Central Valley of CA. Somebody please pass these people some soap and show them how to use a sink.

I'm not sure if your exaggerating but you probably will see that mostly in small towns in East Texas. I can tell you that Houston is worst on this and don't get me wrong, I love Houston.

[EasilyAmused]

It's all the red dirt. Impossible to scrub off.

Also, Port Arthur, Vidor and Orange are in whole different category of wrongness from NE Texas.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by tstone

What kind of stories come out of East TX for the nation to see? Well let's see...

The Dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper is pretty famous.

Vidor was a sundown town and some people believe it still is. The rep is still around somewhat for all the white-flight towns in the Golden Triangle that aren't Beaumont, Port Arthur or Orange. (correct or not) One thing I know for a fact is "black" is probably the most vulgar word around here.

In Spring, the ''white power'' kid beat & sodomized a Hispanic boy with a pipe. Hispanic boy committed suicide by jumping off a cruise ship shortly thereafter.

Tenaha, the cops are allegedly robbing people (esp blacks) who pass through the town. There is a class-action suit brewing right now.

Now, several weeks ago in the Liberty area some deliverance-type inbreds shot and killed some children who were coming back from an evening @ the river.

So as you can see some of the most disgusting stories in the nation come out of East Texas. The media will continue to perpetuate these stereotypes until certain people out there clean up their act.

BTW, why is it so difficult to find a clean public restroom or fast food joint in E/NE TX??? This region is almost as funky as the Central Valley of CA. Somebody please pass these people some soap and show them how to use a sink.

Neither Spring nor Vidor is considered to be a part of East Texas by most Texans. Spring is a suburb of Houston and Vidor is in the Golden Triangle and is considered seperate from East Texas north of that area.

[tstone]

Originally Posted by An0nym0us88

Oh please, you listen to the liberal media too much don't you? Some of the officers are black and I believe the Police Chief is also. I been told by someone and I'm not far from this town when I go to university.

I don't doubt you on that one. Take the race bait out of it and the story is still one of poverty/desperation and ignorance.

If a sundown town isn't "bad" it still equates lack of education and ignorance to many people. If someone got on C-D stats here for educational attainment or income levels, they'll get nothing worth using to defend these towns. The numbers are dismal and the CNN stories are just salt in the wound.

All this perpetuates the stereotype throughout the rest of TX and much of the US. People wonder why threads like these pop up in here and get uppity when you give them an answer. I'm not saying it's right, but it is what it is.

BTW the latest story out of the Liberty area is here:
Two children critically hurt when shot while off-roading in Liberty County | old, year, children - Local News -

[TexasReb]

Just a few observations here...

Personally, I am sick and tired...and disgusted to the point of wanting to puke (pardon the inelegance, ladies)...with what the so-called "media" thinks and why it is accepted as the gospel freakin' truth...

This "mainstream media" is mostly based out of the NE and West Coast and never misses a got-dam chance to present Texas and the South as a bastion of racism and a place where lynchings or some such are still common. There is a disdain for our part of the country that permeates their whole way of thinking and the way it is presented to the rest of the country.

How many, for instance, know of THIS story. The one of Ken Tillery...also of Jasper:

Larry Elder

[bamba_boy]

I took my black wife with some trepidation to a lakeside time-share on a lake north of Tyler about a year ago. I did this with some trepidation but had driven through on the way north several times and just thought it was beautiful and ought to give it a dedicated week's visit. In a whole week in that area we never had an unkind word said but many friendly conversations with people both black and white (and hispanic). If people were indeed racist they went out of there way to cover it up and make us feel confortable and welcome. We got out of the little resort, too, and sampled the little cafes and bars where the loggers and farmers hung out after work. No trouble at all.

I saw probably the funniest bumper sticker I've ever seen in my life on an old mid-60's vintage jalopy pickup truck driven by a middle-age white couple on a little country road in that area: "Redneck Texans for Obama".