5 ms·

Houston Yelp reviews include the word "racist" 4 times more often than average

44 points by slykat 13y ago

cobrausn 13y ago
You didn't find racism, you found accusations of racism made on the internet. The difference is enough to make me think the title should be different. A larger number of accusations of racism might indicate a problem, but there is no way to get there from just the data available on yelp. Disclaimer: Live in Houston. Not super-attached, but figured we may as well get that out there.
- denzil_correa 13y ago
  > You didn't find racism FWIW, the author never claims he did.
  - cobrausn 13y ago
    The title originally said something like 'How I Found Racism Using Yelp', which I thought was inaccurate. The linked article was clear about the distinction.
  - drone 13y ago
    Actually, yes, read the previous blog post that this one is a follow-up to. As a long-time resident of Houston, he's tied himself into a well-known issue that's been talked about for some time [1][2][3]. (Heck, he probably linked a bunch of these in the previous article.) The point he's left out -- nearly every specific incident that's been discussed has revolved around a specific set of bars, that are, umm, largely seen as catering to the "bro" community. (I guess that's how you could call it.) There are a lot of popular bars/clubs outside of the area of these specific bars/clubs that have never been known to be racist. Note how nearly every bar he references in his data is within a mile or two of each other. I think the implied extrapolation out to all of Houston is a big stretch, and certainly doesn't follow my experience having lived here for nearly 20 years. But then again, I'm not looking for examples of racism. I'm certain they're easy to come across on all sides of the issue (black on white, white on black, black on brown, white on brown, and so forth) if you were to go looking. [1] http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/racism_and_houston_clubs_the_n.php http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/racism_and_houst... [2] http://www.yelp.com/topic/houston-racism-and-profiling-at-clubs http://www.yelp.com/topic/houston-racism-and-profiling-at-cl... [3] http://houston.culturemap.com/news/sports/02-11-12-15-44-new-details-emerge-in-alleged-club-racism-dynamo-player-arrest-case-protests-planned-on-washington-ave/ http://houston.culturemap.com/news/sports/02-11-12-15-44-new...
    - justin66 13y ago
      > I think the implied extrapolation out to all of Houston is a big stretch, and certainly doesn't follow my experience having lived here for nearly 20 years. But then again, I'm not looking for examples of racism. I'm certain they're easy to come across on all sides of the issue (black on white, white on black, black on brown, white on brown, and so forth) if you were to go looking. I'm not eliciting any personal information from you but this assessment is infinitely more meaningful if you're a member of one of the minority groups typically discriminated against. Those are the groups that don't have to "go looking" for discrimination, and their social networks are such that they'll know about it even if they don't have much personal experience with it.
- justin66 13y ago
  > A larger number of accusations of racism might indicate a problem, but there is no way to get there from just the data available on yelp. Is it sample size you're concerned with or do you have some sort of existential problem with relying on the veracity of these sorts of reviews? I don't actually know how many negative reviews of this sort it would take to keep me out of a place. I'm not a habitual yelp user (and I'm white, although I would happily boycott a place where this sort of thing takes place) and so I've never had to consider this. It wouldn't take more than one such report from a real-life acquaintance, however.
  - slykat 13y ago
    FYI the sample size for Houston ~25K comments left on businesses categorized as bars or clubs. The entire sample set (across all cities) is >1M.
- slykat 13y ago
  I think the bigger question is why does Houston look so different when you compare to other cities? Yes, I can't tie it to incidents of racism, but something must be driving the fact that the term occurs dramatically higher than any of the large cities. Disclaimer: I was born and raised in Houston.
  - karlkatzke 13y ago
    I'm not sure. I lived in Houston for three years and we left because of the crime in the part of town that we lived in. We could have moved to a "safer" area, but it was "safer" because it was a socioeconomic monoculture with defined borders and a private police force, not because it was actually safe. We chose just to move to a different city rather than embody "white flight"... In the part of town that I lived in, which was the Energy Corridor along I-10 between Beltway 8 and George Bush Park, racial tension was pretty harsh. You had haves and have-nots. Most of the have-nots were notably of one culture or another (depending on which block you were on), and they were pretty merciless about taking advantage of the haves, which were also a monoculture based on the area. Houston was the first place I've had my car broken into repeatedly, to the point that I started leaving the doors unlocked and the windows rolled down regardless of weather. (A plastic seat cover is cheaper than new windows.) Houston was the first place that I've been very happy that I owned dogs, and considered owning a gun. I grew up not locking doors; Houston made me form a routine of checking doors, security bars, deadlocks, door blocks, and window locks and setting the alarm before bed. The Energy Corridor was NOT cheap to live in, and we rented a modest sized house. That part of town has 1980s era architecture where few, if any, windows face the street. I grew up with block parties and knowing your neighbors and talking at the mailbox. Everyone in my neighborhood in Houston, regardless of color, rolled right into the garage and the door came down. I don't know why it's that way, but I suspect it was that cultures self-segregate instead of mix. Personally, I hope to never need to find out, because I'm not coming back, even to visit.
  - angersock 13y ago
    Houston is pretty much the perfect example of the once-touted multiethnic future of the US. We've got a large number of people, a large diversity of socioecoethnic backgrounds, and we are a much more integrated city due to lack of zoning and only relatively recent gentrification. Additionally, note that there was an (arguably recent) influx of folks from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina--that had lasting economic and demographic impacts on large parts of Houston, especially around Reliant.
zoner 13y ago
You found not racism, but ranting caused by frustration as you are writing it in your blog. Clean, pure racism can be found not in the crowd and not in any pub, but in silent people's mind. It does not hurt, it does not rant. It will only silently kill when it sense it's family in danger. A danger which is coming from a different culture. You can call it racism, but it remains natural instinct of subsistence.
- rthomas6 13y ago
  I call that xenophobia.
  - bilbo0s 13y ago
    Agree. That's different than "racism".
- w1ntermute 13y ago
  > It will only silently kill when it sense it's family in danger. Or when oneself is in danger, in the case of Zimmerman.
  - sixbrx 13y ago
    It's assuming a lot to say that that was racism killing, it's more a guy killing - who in your own words was "in danger". Justified or not.
- irahul 13y ago
  Oh for fuck's sake...
grumpygremlin 13y ago
Please stop spamming this on HN. Keep tumblr bullshit on tumblr.
BigChiefSmokem 13y ago
Everything is bigger in Texas.
- slykat 13y ago
  I think that's unfair given that there are 3 cities (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin), that didn't show the same frequency of using the term.
  - angersock 13y ago
    Houston is a far, far more diverse and integrated city than those other ones, I venture.
    - steveklabnik 13y ago
      Than Austin?
      - angersock 13y ago
        Yes. We're a port city, we're the fourth largest city in the United States, and all of this in a non-student population (sorry longhorns). It's part of why this is such a baller place to be living right now. EDIT: To wit: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/07/01/195909643/tx2020-houston-racial-ethnic-diversity-americas-future http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/07/01/195909643...
    - Steko 13y ago
      far, far more diverse and integrated Nothing says 'integrated' like "no black people allowed".
crummy 13y ago
One thing I'd note is that a potential city that is very racist but with a racially homogeneous population probably would have few reviews that include the word "racist" on Yelp.
- slykat 13y ago
  That's a vey good point (and a key weakness in this analysis). However, a counter-point is that a racially homogenous population probably will have a lower incidence of racist issues since by definition their minority population is low, and the aim of this was try to gauge a metric for prevalence of racist issues.
joonix 13y ago
Nightclubs in Houston try to keep minorities out because white people will call a place "ghetto" if it has a lot of blacks or Hispanics. It's not hard to figure out. Growing up in Houston I saw countless venues quickly disappear as soon as word spread that they were "ghetto." What basically happens is the young white women feel uncomfortable around "ghetto" men, so they go elsewhere. Young men go where the young women are. You can blame the patrons, not the owners. The owners are behaving rationally, sadly.
- justin66 13y ago
  > You can blame the patrons, not the owners. The owners are behaving rationally, sadly. I understand what you're saying but if what you're describing is correct, you can blame the owners for not complying with federal law.
  - slykat 13y ago
    Yep, this is illegal. From an article in the Houston Press( http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-02-10/news/getting-past-the-bouncer/full/ http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-02-10/news/getting-past-the...) Although they are private businesses, in the eyes of the law — specifically the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — bars and nightclubs are "public accommodations" like hotels, restaurants and movie theaters, and thus forbidden to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. Private clubs, institutions such as country clubs that are selective in membership and only open to members, are generally exempt. However, "Even if you have a doorman, a bar is more like a restaurant than a country club," says Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City. "So, generally speaking, a bar that treats patrons differently on the basis of race is in violation of federal law."
    - angersock 13y ago
      There's a fine point between good and bad discrimination when it comes to bars and clubs and the like--a great deal of the attraction of many bars is having a particular vibe or culture, and if an owner wants to cultivate that in a particular way they should be free to do so. It's thorny. EDIT: Why do you disagree?
static_typed 13y ago
The danger is that real racism, which is a scurge we should all fight against ends up being lost in a sea of complaints, accusations and suggestions of racism. The reality is that there are a few vocal people with might powerful shoulders out there, well, the shoulders should be strong for the size of the chip they seem to carry on it, and their complaining tends to drown out the quieter voices of those who do actually suffer.
codygman 13y ago
For those trying to say this proves nothing... I'd say this review proves it: "She knows the door guys, owner, DJ, everyone. She had a reserved spot for 25-30 people. As soon as the party kicked off, the trouble started. Every person in her party that tried to get in, that wasn't white, was stopped at the door." Combined with the profile history and look of it, it seems Ashlee M is a real person. Also according to those here claiming they live in Houston, it's very believable and (logical, yet immoral and illegal) that this is happening. Given all the evidence here I'd be willing to bet a substantial amount of money that my girlfriend (who is black) and I would be turned away from vintage.
diminoten 13y ago
A club would last about three seconds if they did this in my hometown, Washington, D.C. It's just plain not realistic here. There are certainly bars patronized mostly by black men and women, however I doubt they'd disallow a white person entry. In that way I suppose a certain self-segregation exists, but it's not like black people aren't going to every bar in the city, just like white people. It's not really an issue I'm aware of here. Maybe this is just a Huston thing?
trustfundbaby 13y ago
I live in Austin, came of age there and despite having a lot of Friends in Houston, I didn't really start trying to hit up the nightlife there till I was well out of college. Even then I didn't actually have any problems till I started trying to get into the bars and clubs that were more ... shall we say ... "white" (close to Rice, Washington Ave etc) I point out being from Austin, because over here, clubs don't even charge cover, you just walk in and out of whatever club or bar you want. So going to Houston, it took me a while to realize that all the time we spent waiting in line, or that getting turned away from clubs for having "torn jeans" or jeans that were too baggy was actually racist nonsense. In one particular incident I will never forget, my buddy and I were trying to get into a club called Drake, when it first opened (its now a "black" club, which is pretty ironic) but at the time we showed up pretty early (by Texas standards) ie about 11pm so that we could avoid any hassles with the bouncer ... but we got told to wait ... so we waited ... and waited and waited ... People would line up behind us, and then after about 10 minutes, disappear, and then they'd get into a "VIP" line and be whisked in. It was a fairly upscale crowd, and we were still young-ish so we just figured we just didn't have the pull those people did, one particular girl and her posse came in chatted with us and got in through VIP (this is significant for later) ... After waiting about an hour, we decided to leave so we could get in elsewhere before we blew the night (clubs close at 2am) ... on our way out, we bumped into the "friendly" girl who was also leaving after being in there for about 15 minutes ... and after a few pleasantries she asked us why it had taken that long for us to leave ... we looked at each other for a bit, confused and then she said "you really didn't know they don't let black people in that club?" She was white. So yeah, I don't party in Houston, or if I do, I stick to "black clubs". Its a shame really, but I know Houston pretty well and I think the explanation for this (apart from good ol' fashioned Texas racism) is that its so big. Its easy to find people like you there, so people form groups and simply don't mix, which makes more sense once you factor in the racism. In Austin for example, the same dynamics are there, but everybody just has to party together because its so small ... but as the population has grown bigger, racist incidents have been on the uptick. As in ... an Asian lady called me and another lady friend of mine the n-word to our faces just a few weeks ago (we were literally just standing around ordering food, and she stumbled up to the food-truck half-drunk, spotted us and went "uh oh ... ns" ... I kid you not). That hasn't happened to me in Austin in almost 10 years ... I think Thats just how Texas is, which is a fucking shame.

44 points by slykat 13y ago

You didn't find racism, you found accusations of racism made on the internet. The difference is enough to make me think the title should be different. A larger number of accusations of racism might indicate a problem, but there is no way to get there from just the data available on yelp. Disclaimer: Live in Houston. Not super-attached, but figured we may as well get that out there.

denzil_correa 13y ago
> You didn't find racism FWIW, the author never claims he did.
- cobrausn 13y ago
  The title originally said something like 'How I Found Racism Using Yelp', which I thought was inaccurate. The linked article was clear about the distinction.
- drone 13y ago
  Actually, yes, read the previous blog post that this one is a follow-up to. As a long-time resident of Houston, he's tied himself into a well-known issue that's been talked about for some time [1][2][3]. (Heck, he probably linked a bunch of these in the previous article.) The point he's left out -- nearly every specific incident that's been discussed has revolved around a specific set of bars, that are, umm, largely seen as catering to the "bro" community. (I guess that's how you could call it.) There are a lot of popular bars/clubs outside of the area of these specific bars/clubs that have never been known to be racist. Note how nearly every bar he references in his data is within a mile or two of each other. I think the implied extrapolation out to all of Houston is a big stretch, and certainly doesn't follow my experience having lived here for nearly 20 years. But then again, I'm not looking for examples of racism. I'm certain they're easy to come across on all sides of the issue (black on white, white on black, black on brown, white on brown, and so forth) if you were to go looking. [1] http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/racism_and_houston_clubs_the_n.php http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/01/racism_and_houst... [2] http://www.yelp.com/topic/houston-racism-and-profiling-at-clubs http://www.yelp.com/topic/houston-racism-and-profiling-at-cl... [3] http://houston.culturemap.com/news/sports/02-11-12-15-44-new-details-emerge-in-alleged-club-racism-dynamo-player-arrest-case-protests-planned-on-washington-ave/ http://houston.culturemap.com/news/sports/02-11-12-15-44-new...
  - justin66 13y ago
    > I think the implied extrapolation out to all of Houston is a big stretch, and certainly doesn't follow my experience having lived here for nearly 20 years. But then again, I'm not looking for examples of racism. I'm certain they're easy to come across on all sides of the issue (black on white, white on black, black on brown, white on brown, and so forth) if you were to go looking. I'm not eliciting any personal information from you but this assessment is infinitely more meaningful if you're a member of one of the minority groups typically discriminated against. Those are the groups that don't have to "go looking" for discrimination, and their social networks are such that they'll know about it even if they don't have much personal experience with it.
justin66 13y ago
> A larger number of accusations of racism might indicate a problem, but there is no way to get there from just the data available on yelp. Is it sample size you're concerned with or do you have some sort of existential problem with relying on the veracity of these sorts of reviews? I don't actually know how many negative reviews of this sort it would take to keep me out of a place. I'm not a habitual yelp user (and I'm white, although I would happily boycott a place where this sort of thing takes place) and so I've never had to consider this. It wouldn't take more than one such report from a real-life acquaintance, however.
- slykat 13y ago
  FYI the sample size for Houston ~25K comments left on businesses categorized as bars or clubs. The entire sample set (across all cities) is >1M.
slykat 13y ago
I think the bigger question is why does Houston look so different when you compare to other cities? Yes, I can't tie it to incidents of racism, but something must be driving the fact that the term occurs dramatically higher than any of the large cities. Disclaimer: I was born and raised in Houston.
- karlkatzke 13y ago
  I'm not sure. I lived in Houston for three years and we left because of the crime in the part of town that we lived in. We could have moved to a "safer" area, but it was "safer" because it was a socioeconomic monoculture with defined borders and a private police force, not because it was actually safe. We chose just to move to a different city rather than embody "white flight"... In the part of town that I lived in, which was the Energy Corridor along I-10 between Beltway 8 and George Bush Park, racial tension was pretty harsh. You had haves and have-nots. Most of the have-nots were notably of one culture or another (depending on which block you were on), and they were pretty merciless about taking advantage of the haves, which were also a monoculture based on the area. Houston was the first place I've had my car broken into repeatedly, to the point that I started leaving the doors unlocked and the windows rolled down regardless of weather. (A plastic seat cover is cheaper than new windows.) Houston was the first place that I've been very happy that I owned dogs, and considered owning a gun. I grew up not locking doors; Houston made me form a routine of checking doors, security bars, deadlocks, door blocks, and window locks and setting the alarm before bed. The Energy Corridor was NOT cheap to live in, and we rented a modest sized house. That part of town has 1980s era architecture where few, if any, windows face the street. I grew up with block parties and knowing your neighbors and talking at the mailbox. Everyone in my neighborhood in Houston, regardless of color, rolled right into the garage and the door came down. I don't know why it's that way, but I suspect it was that cultures self-segregate instead of mix. Personally, I hope to never need to find out, because I'm not coming back, even to visit.
- angersock 13y ago
  Houston is pretty much the perfect example of the once-touted multiethnic future of the US. We've got a large number of people, a large diversity of socioecoethnic backgrounds, and we are a much more integrated city due to lack of zoning and only relatively recent gentrification. Additionally, note that there was an (arguably recent) influx of folks from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina--that had lasting economic and demographic impacts on large parts of Houston, especially around Reliant.

zoner 13y ago

You found not racism, but ranting caused by frustration as you are writing it in your blog. Clean, pure racism can be found not in the crowd and not in any pub, but in silent people's mind. It does not hurt, it does not rant. It will only silently kill when it sense it's family in danger. A danger which is coming from a different culture. You can call it racism, but it remains natural instinct of subsistence.

rthomas6 13y ago
I call that xenophobia.
- bilbo0s 13y ago
  Agree. That's different than "racism".
w1ntermute 13y ago
> It will only silently kill when it sense it's family in danger. Or when oneself is in danger, in the case of Zimmerman.
- sixbrx 13y ago
  It's assuming a lot to say that that was racism killing, it's more a guy killing - who in your own words was "in danger". Justified or not.
irahul 13y ago
Oh for fuck's sake...

grumpygremlin 13y ago

Please stop spamming this on HN. Keep tumblr bullshit on tumblr.

BigChiefSmokem 13y ago

Everything is bigger in Texas.

slykat 13y ago
I think that's unfair given that there are 3 cities (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin), that didn't show the same frequency of using the term.
- angersock 13y ago
  Houston is a far, far more diverse and integrated city than those other ones, I venture.
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    Than Austin?
    - angersock 13y ago
      Yes. We're a port city, we're the fourth largest city in the United States, and all of this in a non-student population (sorry longhorns). It's part of why this is such a baller place to be living right now. EDIT: To wit: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/07/01/195909643/tx2020-houston-racial-ethnic-diversity-americas-future http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/07/01/195909643...
  - Steko 13y ago
    far, far more diverse and integrated Nothing says 'integrated' like "no black people allowed".

crummy 13y ago

One thing I'd note is that a potential city that is very racist but with a racially homogeneous population probably would have few reviews that include the word "racist" on Yelp.

slykat 13y ago
That's a vey good point (and a key weakness in this analysis). However, a counter-point is that a racially homogenous population probably will have a lower incidence of racist issues since by definition their minority population is low, and the aim of this was try to gauge a metric for prevalence of racist issues.

joonix 13y ago

Nightclubs in Houston try to keep minorities out because white people will call a place "ghetto" if it has a lot of blacks or Hispanics. It's not hard to figure out. Growing up in Houston I saw countless venues quickly disappear as soon as word spread that they were "ghetto." What basically happens is the young white women feel uncomfortable around "ghetto" men, so they go elsewhere. Young men go where the young women are. You can blame the patrons, not the owners. The owners are behaving rationally, sadly.

justin66 13y ago
> You can blame the patrons, not the owners. The owners are behaving rationally, sadly. I understand what you're saying but if what you're describing is correct, you can blame the owners for not complying with federal law.
- slykat 13y ago
  Yep, this is illegal. From an article in the Houston Press( http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-02-10/news/getting-past-the-bouncer/full/ http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-02-10/news/getting-past-the...) Although they are private businesses, in the eyes of the law — specifically the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — bars and nightclubs are "public accommodations" like hotels, restaurants and movie theaters, and thus forbidden to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin. Private clubs, institutions such as country clubs that are selective in membership and only open to members, are generally exempt. However, "Even if you have a doorman, a bar is more like a restaurant than a country club," says Dale Ho, Assistant Counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York City. "So, generally speaking, a bar that treats patrons differently on the basis of race is in violation of federal law."
  - angersock 13y ago
    There's a fine point between good and bad discrimination when it comes to bars and clubs and the like--a great deal of the attraction of many bars is having a particular vibe or culture, and if an owner wants to cultivate that in a particular way they should be free to do so. It's thorny. EDIT: Why do you disagree?

static_typed 13y ago

The danger is that real racism, which is a scurge we should all fight against ends up being lost in a sea of complaints, accusations and suggestions of racism. The reality is that there are a few vocal people with might powerful shoulders out there, well, the shoulders should be strong for the size of the chip they seem to carry on it, and their complaining tends to drown out the quieter voices of those who do actually suffer.

codygman 13y ago

For those trying to say this proves nothing... I'd say this review proves it: "She knows the door guys, owner, DJ, everyone. She had a reserved spot for 25-30 people. As soon as the party kicked off, the trouble started. Every person in her party that tried to get in, that wasn't white, was stopped at the door." Combined with the profile history and look of it, it seems Ashlee M is a real person. Also according to those here claiming they live in Houston, it's very believable and (logical, yet immoral and illegal) that this is happening. Given all the evidence here I'd be willing to bet a substantial amount of money that my girlfriend (who is black) and I would be turned away from vintage.

diminoten 13y ago

A club would last about three seconds if they did this in my hometown, Washington, D.C. It's just plain not realistic here. There are certainly bars patronized mostly by black men and women, however I doubt they'd disallow a white person entry. In that way I suppose a certain self-segregation exists, but it's not like black people aren't going to every bar in the city, just like white people. It's not really an issue I'm aware of here. Maybe this is just a Huston thing?

trustfundbaby 13y ago

I live in Austin, came of age there and despite having a lot of Friends in Houston, I didn't really start trying to hit up the nightlife there till I was well out of college. Even then I didn't actually have any problems till I started trying to get into the bars and clubs that were more ... shall we say ... "white" (close to Rice, Washington Ave etc) I point out being from Austin, because over here, clubs don't even charge cover, you just walk in and out of whatever club or bar you want. So going to Houston, it took me a while to realize that all the time we spent waiting in line, or that getting turned away from clubs for having "torn jeans" or jeans that were too baggy was actually racist nonsense. In one particular incident I will never forget, my buddy and I were trying to get into a club called Drake, when it first opened (its now a "black" club, which is pretty ironic) but at the time we showed up pretty early (by Texas standards) ie about 11pm so that we could avoid any hassles with the bouncer ... but we got told to wait ... so we waited ... and waited and waited ... People would line up behind us, and then after about 10 minutes, disappear, and then they'd get into a "VIP" line and be whisked in. It was a fairly upscale crowd, and we were still young-ish so we just figured we just didn't have the pull those people did, one particular girl and her posse came in chatted with us and got in through VIP (this is significant for later) ... After waiting about an hour, we decided to leave so we could get in elsewhere before we blew the night (clubs close at 2am) ... on our way out, we bumped into the "friendly" girl who was also leaving after being in there for about 15 minutes ... and after a few pleasantries she asked us why it had taken that long for us to leave ... we looked at each other for a bit, confused and then she said "you really didn't know they don't let black people in that club?" She was white. So yeah, I don't party in Houston, or if I do, I stick to "black clubs". Its a shame really, but I know Houston pretty well and I think the explanation for this (apart from good ol' fashioned Texas racism) is that its so big. Its easy to find people like you there, so people form groups and simply don't mix, which makes more sense once you factor in the racism. In Austin for example, the same dynamics are there, but everybody just has to party together because its so small ... but as the population has grown bigger, racist incidents have been on the uptick. As in ... an Asian lady called me and another lady friend of mine the n-word to our faces just a few weeks ago (we were literally just standing around ordering food, and she stumbled up to the food-truck half-drunk, spotted us and went "uh oh ... ns" ... I kid you not). That hasn't happened to me in Austin in almost 10 years ... I think Thats just how Texas is, which is a fucking shame.