Transplants, what was your initial reaction to living in Houston? (Katy: car insurance, restaurants)

[MobileDave]

Originally Posted by vegankris

ghet·to (gt)
n. pl. ghet·tos or ghet·toes
1. A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination.
2. An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.
3. Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto:

Sorry, I don't mean to offend you David Dollar, I'm just saying that where I come from, ghetto is considered a very racist word and just isn't used. And the word ghetto is just an example. I'm just shocked at how open those who are racist tend to be. It definitely is a different culture here.

As opposed to the ultra-segregated and racist north? Take off your blinders...

Do you think hate crimes are a good indicator of racism? Lets compare Houston to, lets say, Boston:

Houston:
Population - 2,273,771
Hate Crimes based on race alone (2009) - 4
Total hate crimes - 14

Boston:
Population - 624,222
Hate Crimes based on race alone (2009) - 66
Total hate crimes - 134

How about Illinois as a state compared to Texas:

Illinois:
Population - 8,493,832
Hate crimes based on race alone - 76
Total hate crimes - 129

Texas:
Population - 24,770,372
Hate crimes based on race alone - 84
Total hate crimes - 165

Ohio: 142, 297
New Jersey: 221, 549
Massachusetts: 158, 322
New York: 160, 626
etc...

Hate Crime Statistics, 2009

Remove your blinders or get a new group of friends.

[BCEagles01]

-Can someone turn off the sauna ?

-Thats pretty cheap. Whats the catch ?

-Whats a ditch and where are the sidewalks ?

[llmrkc07]

Originally Posted by MobileDave

As opposed to the ultra-segregated and racist north? Take off your blinders...

Do you think hate crimes are a good indicator of racism? Lets compare Houston to, lets say, Boston:

Houston:
Population - 2,273,771
Hate Crimes based on race alone (2009) - 4
Total hate crimes - 14

Boston:
Population - 624,222
Hate Crimes based on race alone (2009) - 66
Total hate crimes - 134

How about Illinois as a state compared to Texas:

Illinois:
Population - 8,493,832
Hate crimes based on race alone - 76
Total hate crimes - 129

Texas:
Population - 24,770,372
Hate crimes based on race alone - 84
Total hate crimes - 165

Ohio: 142, 297
New Jersey: 221, 549
Massachusetts: 158, 322
New York: 160, 626
etc...

Hate Crime Statistics, 2009

Remove your blinders or get a new group of friends.

good post

[testmo]

Ghetto in no way is on the level of saying a racial slur. Not sure where Vegankris comes from in the North. But it has the same connotation in Minnesota, Virginia, DC, Seattle. Maybe I am missing something but people in my house right now (northerners) are going "whaaaaat?" to her comment. is it nice to call a person ghetto? no it's not. it's also not nice to blanketly call people racists

Everyone knows Boston is a horrible place to live, come on now.


gypsies are a European thing. i've never heard someone/a people called gypsies in America where the people were being serious (or know what that actually means in current culture)

this is just my personal experience so of course experience matters only so much but the only racism I have encountered is from the very old or non-native Texans. If you are from Houston and hold stringent racial beliefs you are simply trying to grasp onto something that never existed in the first place. It is hard to intellectually do that so most people can't

[vegankris]

Re-read my post. I NEVER said that everyone in Houston is racist, in fact it may be true that there is more racism where I come from. What I did say was that it seemed to me that people were more open about it in Houston. Maybe it's a southern thing, I have no idea. But, I'm not the only one to notice this.

And as far as the word "ghetto" being racist... I have no idea why everyone is getting so worked up because I think it is a racist term. That is just my opinion and the opinion of many people I know... I don't claim to be an expert, I'm just surprised how often it is used here. Where I come from, it was hardly ever used. Sheesh... everyone relax about it! I like Houston. I wanted to move to Houston. I much prefer Houston over where I came from. I was just responding to the thread and I assumed it was asking for my opinion, which I gave.

Seriously, relax....

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Neworleansisprettygood

I went to Rice for three semesters and then lived there for a while after "the storm" (I'm not saying it).
The thing I liked most about Houston was the most unexpected- the very liberal, intellectual vibe I got from a lot of people. The thing I liked the least was that up until right before I moved back home I couldn't figure the city out- whoever said that it's like a bunch of cities next to each other was right. It felt like about 500 small southern towns all smashed together, with one having an IKEA, the next a Costco, etc.

I didn't know you could find those in small southern towns.

[majicdonjuan]

I somewhat agree, and somewhat disagree with vegankris. Ghetto is almost always used as a code word to describe minorities. The parallel word when used to describe white people is generally white trash, poor, or uneducated. Ghetto hasn't been really been used to describe white people since probably WWII.

Now does that make the person using ghetto racist? Not necessarily. More than likely, they are simply trying to identify the quality of a person as well as identifying that the person in question isn't white.

[blkgiraffe]

Originally Posted by Neworleansisprettygood

I went to Rice for three semesters and then lived there for a while after "the storm" (I'm not saying it).
The thing I liked most about Houston was the most unexpected- the very liberal, intellectual vibe I got from a lot of people. The thing I liked the least was that up until right before I moved back home I couldn't figure the city out- whoever said that it's like a bunch of cities next to each other was right. It felt like about 500 small southern towns all smashed together, with one having an IKEA, the next a Costco, etc.

That makes entirely no sense. Elaborate.

[usc619]

My first initial reaction was full of Bandit signs, Illegals and over grown weeds along the roads/sidewalks, you'll eventually get used to it.

[Huckleberry3911948]

natural beauty and excellent food.
of course that was 1962.