East Texas Rednecks (Dallas, Lubbock, Amarillo: real estate, condos, home)

[airboat5]

whats wrong with being a red neck.

[LizzySWW]

Originally Posted by airboat5

whats wrong with being a red neck.

Jeff Foxworthy, is that you?

[airboat5]

pretty close

[tstone]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

So is your impression that white people in east Texas are pretty racist or are you just saying that the media gives east Texas more bad press than it should?

I think it does get more bad press than it should but it certainly has its issues. I stand neutral on whether or not people are ''more racist'' because I'm white and wouldn't have anything to gauge it by. If I had to guess it has the same issues as the rest of the Deep South, which stem from rural poverty. The whole region gets more than its fair share of bad press.

BTW regarding Spring and Vidor not being East Texas, it's just a matter of semantics. IMO, Spring (the area north of IAH) is essentially at the entrance to East Texas. The Golden Triangle is east of the Trinity River = East Texas. I'd actually put the boundary at east of Galveston / Galveston Bay / San Jacinto River / I-45 and up a line between west of Tyler and east of Dallas.

[Fullback32]

East Texas...racist or not? Well I think it all depends on the individuals you are dealing with. Just as an example: Back in '97 when I was living in San Antonio, the wife, kids and I decided to drive to Florida to watch a Shuttle launch and go to Disney. This, of course, meant driving east. So y'all understand, I am Comanche...enrolled in the tribe and look like it (my hair was short then though was I was still in the Air Force). On our way there, we had to stop for gas in a place called Rose City, Tx. I forget the name of the gas station, but they simply wouldn't turn on the pumps. Figuring they just didn't realize that I was there waiting, I went inside and asked them to please turn on the pumps. What I received in response was, "You just wait a meenut boy! We're chaingin' sheefts!" So I waited and waited a little longer, when a white guy walked in and said "$10 dollars on one." To this guy the response was with a smile of Texas hospitality, "Oh go right a head hun." She then turned back to my very brown self with a spiteful look in her eye and said, "Go on boy, git yur gas now." I have no idea if these women would know a hispanic from a native, but it was obvious they had some sort of problem with brown skinned people.

I said, "Nah, you keep it", left, and went down the road a ways for gas. When I saw another gas station, the folks (who were also East Texas white folk) were very nice, polite and courteous. I felt NONE of the hostility I did from that first gas station. I felt so comfortable there, I asked, "So what is the problem with those folks at the other gas station?" He just kind of shook his head and apologized for them and said that they are know for being that way...plus you don't know what kind of gas you're getting.

The point is...in the same East Texas town, I ran into racism and into just good folks all within minutes of each other. Racism exists in the big cities too; it's just more diluted and in the background there (and that goes for the North too...Boston, Chicago, New York). I don't know why some folks think Texas or the South has some sort of monopoly on racism. I think in smaller towns it may be easier to run into. I hope my meaning came across clear.

[dbad]

tstone
You seem to have the same idea about east Texas as some have about the Bermuda triangle. Terrible things happen all across this world. Pointing to one place and saying " This place seems to be bad because I went looking for bad." then congratulating yourself for finding bad is just lazy thinking.
As to the state of things in E. Texas...enjoy it while you can. It is the most beautiful place in Texas as far as I'm concerned, but with so many judgmental people creeping into the area from other states it's starting to stink. My advice would be stay where you are at. This way you won't have to worry about all those scary rednecks or the possibility that you might be related to one.
B.T.B The term redneck comes to us from hardworking miners who wore red bandannas around their necks to identify each other while they were fighting a literal war against cruel and selfish mine owners and their enforcers. So think for a moment before throwing terms like that around to entertain those hyper-liberal friends of yours. That goes for everyone.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by Fullback32

East Texas...racist or not? Well I think it all depends on the individuals you are dealing with. Just as an example: Back in '97 when I was living in San Antonio, the wife, kids and I decided to drive to Florida to watch a Shuttle launch and go to Disney. This, of course, meant driving east. So y'all understand, I am Comanche...enrolled in the tribe and look like it (my hair was short then though was I was still in the Air Force). On our way there, we had to stop for gas in a place called Rose City, Tx. I forget the name of the gas station, but they simply wouldn't turn on the pumps. Figuring they just didn't realize that I was there waiting, I went inside and asked them to please turn on the pumps. What I received in response was, "You just wait a meenut boy! We're chaingin' sheefts!" So I waited and waited a little longer, when a white guy walked in and said "$10 dollars on one." To this guy the response was with a smile of Texas hospitality, "Oh go right a head hun." She then turned back to my very brown self with a spiteful look in her eye and said, "Go on boy, git yur gas now." I have no idea if these women would know a hispanic from a native, but it was obvious they had some sort of problem with brown skinned people.

I said, "Nah, you keep it", left, and went down the road a ways for gas. When I saw another gas station, the folks (who were also East Texas white folk) were very nice, polite and courteous. I felt NONE of the hostility I did from that first gas station. I felt so comfortable there, I asked, "So what is the problem with those folks at the other gas station?" He just kind of shook his head and apologized for them and said that they are know for being that way...plus you don't know what kind of gas you're getting.

The point is...in the same East Texas town, I ran into racism and into just good folks all within minutes of each other. Racism exists in the big cities too; it's just more diluted and in the background there (and that goes for the North too...Boston, Chicago, New York). I don't know why some folks think Texas or the South has some sort of monopoly on racism. I think in smaller towns it may be easier to run into. I hope my meaning came across clear.

Yeah your point was very clear. Yeah in one of my posts above I pointed out how Boston has been a racist town over the years. It's in New England so the stereotype is they're open-minded, non-racist people. That hasn't been true for a lot of Bostonians over the years.

I was in the Air Force myself after high school. I was stationed in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It doesn't get any more north than that in the continental U.S. The northern half of MI is all white people. There are a lot of racist people up there. A lot of people up there don't like black people and Hispanic people. Detroit is 81% black. Flint which is about 70 miles northwest of Detroit has a lot of black people. A lot of people in northern MI talked like Detroit and Flint were the biggest sh** holes in the world. They did not describe black people in a nice way. I just described two places up north with a lot of racist people. This proves that Texas or the south don't have a monopoly on racism.

[Frodo2008]

Originally Posted by dbad

tstone
You seem to have the same idea about east Texas as some have about the Bermuda triangle. Terrible things happen all across this world. Pointing to one place and saying " This place seems to be bad because I went looking for bad." then congratulating yourself for finding bad is just lazy thinking.
As to the state of things in E. Texas...enjoy it while you can. It is the most beautiful place in Texas as far as I'm concerned, but with so many judgmental people creeping into the area from other states it's starting to stink. My advice would be stay where you are at. This way you won't have to worry about all those scary rednecks or the possibility that you might be related to one.
B.T.B The term redneck comes to us from hardworking miners who wore red bandannas around their necks to identify each other while they were fighting a literal war against cruel and selfish mine owners and their enforcers. So think for a moment before throwing terms like that around to entertain those hyper-liberal friends of yours. That goes for everyone.

I didn't know that's where the term redneck came from. I thought that term came about because farmers and ranchers would be out in the sun a lot and they would get a sunburn on their neck. Hence the term redneck. I learned something today.

[theloneranger]

Originally Posted by Frodo2008

I didn't know that's where the term redneck came from. I thought that term came about because farmers and ranchers would be out in the sun a lot and they would get a sunburn on their neck. Hence the term redneck. I learned something today.

No, Frodo from everything I've ever read it does come from sunburnt necks of rural farmers.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by theloneranger

No, Frodo from everything I've ever read it does come from sunburnt necks of rural farmers.

That is what I have always heard as well, LR. Still though, I have never really deeply researched the etomology of the term, so can't say for sure.

Anyway, like you, what I had always "heard" was that it originated as a sorta "derogatory" term used by "city folks" (especially in the South and parts of the Midwest) to refer to the the working class -- especially farmers -- who spent a lot of time out in the sun...