Racial acceptance in North Austin (Houston, Round Rock: 2015, house, schools)

[dorono]

Hello all,

My wife and I are thinking very seriously about moving to Austin, and likely somewhere in the North/Northwest section like Cedar Park, Avery Ranch, or Steiner Ranch.

While I know that Austin is known as a generally very liberal and open minded city, I also understand that as you start moving away from central Austin, things start getting more conservative again. We even heard from one Austin mother of a biracial child that she would *never* let him go to school in North Austin because of the close-mindedness there.

My wife is African American and I am white, so our son is biracial. While we don't really care about peoples' politics or who they voted for, we just want to make sure that it's not the kind of conservatism that crosses into racial discrimination, causing our son to have a hard time of it in school, or that will cause us to have any sort of significant unpleasantness in the north Austin suburbs on account of my wife and son's race.

Please don't take offense to this if you are a totally open and accepting north Austin-ite, I just want to see if there's some sort of consensus on the level of racial discrimination up north, and if it's any worse or better than other parts of Austin.

Thanks!

Doron

[theone33]

I think you should seriously visit Austin before anything. It is known as a very "liberal and open minded" city because it is so easy to avoid minorities who have been pushed to one side of town. Do you think all those white hipsters and yuppie's would be moving there it was like Houston with all colors of the rainbow pretty much everywhere you go? I am not trying to make you not move there because it really is a nice place but it feels extremely white in a lot of places Doron.

[sojourner77]

North and Northeast Austin have a good amount of diversity and biracial people - more so than South or SW Austin. The only area south with a significant number of black people is the airport (employees??)

[COCUE]

We live in Avery Ranch and we are a black family. No issues. In fact, it doesn't come up in our daily lives. Yes, there are not many black people around but they are there certainly once your child starts school, i cannot imagine he will be the only black kid in any of the schools in the areas you mentioned, may be one of a few but wont be the only. Not a big gain, but not being the only mattered to us as we are used to being one of the few but hate being the only. I actually see more black people now where i live than where we lived in the bay area not too long ago

[scm53]

My Caucasian niece, who lives in Cedar Park, has a biracial (black/Hispanic) adopted son. Her second marriage is to a Hispanic guy, with whom she has two mixed ethnicity kids. My sister, who lives in Round Rock, is married to a VERY dark skinned Hispanic guy with whom she has a whiter -than-white adopted Russian daughter. None of them has ever heard a peep, not even a sideways glance in Williamson County.

It's a real mistake in the Austin metro to believe there is a correlation between electoral politics and racial acceptance.

[sxrckr]

It's fine. Any worries in 2015 are exaggerated IMO.

[hooky hornstein]

I grew up on the culturally diverse East side of Austin but to get a bigger house for the money and to have a better Cap Metro commute, I moved to Leander 20 years ago.

There is a much bigger caucasian majority up in the LCP (Leander-Cedar Park micro-community) but oddly enough there seems to be more bi-racial couples. When I was growing up on the Ea'side you might have as many black families as white families on any given block, but there were only a few mix-raced couples.

Counting them on my fingers right now, I'm pretty good friends with at least 10 bi-racial couples who live in the LCP. Six have black dads and white moms and four have white dads and black moms. All have THE most gorgeous (and popular) children you have ever seen.

Weird how there are so many bi-racial couples in the LCP. I think I know more now than I knew collectively in 30 years on the Ea'side. And I doubt I know all of the bi-racial couples in the LCP. Probably just a small sample.

[hooky hornstein]

Originally Posted by theone33

I think you should seriously visit Austin before anything. It is known as a very "liberal and open minded" city because it is so easy to avoid minorities who have been pushed to one side of town. Do you think all those white hipsters and yuppie's would be moving there it was like Houston with all colors of the rainbow pretty much everywhere you go? I am not trying to make you not move there because it really is a nice place but it feels extremely white in a lot of places Doron.

You know, theone33, I think you're a smart, witty and interesting poster but this particular schtick is getting a little old. I don't begrudge your praise of Houston. It's a great city. But why do you feel this need to demonize Austin?

Have YOU ever visited Austin?

Yes Austin has more hipsters and yuppies than other Texas cities, but do you really imagine they are the majority? According to the US Census Bureau, less than 50% of the people in Austin are non-hispanic white only.

In fact, according to the US Census Bureau, Austin also has a higher percentage of mixed race families than Houston does. Look it up.

Have you ever looked a map of Houston's racial demographics? The 77004, for example, is 72% black and the adjacent 77006 is 80% white and only 4% black. {sarcasm} what a paragon of diversity! {/sarcasm}

[eirenecat]

I live in 78729 (Hunter's Chase to be precise) and when I attended my daughter's kindergarten roundup a month ago, there were at least a half dozen mixed race couples and children among just the small number of parents who showed up for the roundup. On my block my neighbors are Asian, Indian, Hispanic, white, and black. This is just my one little block. I don't think you and your wife will have any troubles.

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by sxrckr

It's fine. Any worries in 2015 are exaggerated IMO.

I agree and get sick of the typical accusatory narrative disguised as a question.