Seems to me, iirc, the Houston suburb of Montrose was very populated by our Jewish Texans. Some very pretty synagogs there, too. Some local business names I remember are also Jewish.
Of course, academia, bigger cities, business, etc… are less likely (ime) to be outwardly prejudicial in general. What someone says to friends and family, tho, who knows?
Get out into small town East Texas, tho, and just driving a foreign car can engender sidelong glances filled with disdain.
I don’t know what you’re misreading in your over-eagerness of scoring debate or at least grade school geography points here, but there is no shortage of corruption, incompetence and cronyism in California city and state government. Just as much as in the former Confederacy. And even though people claim the distinction of being “native Californians,” and “Welcome to California. Now Go Home” bumper stickers are still to be seen, the self-serving xenophobia is not the same as in the South.
That’s the only difference: not the level of fucked-upness, just the resentment against outsiders noticing it.
That is the main reason that Tulane still has such a sizable Jewish population. It was one of the more prestigious universities that did not have quotas to limit Jewish enrollment during the early to mid 20th century. Most of the Northeastern schools including the Ivies like Harvard did to purposefully limit Jewish enrollment. The ambitious Jewish students that wanted to become doctors and lawyers needed quality schools that would admit them and they found them in the South. Colleges and universities don’t have Jewish quotas anymore but the tradition and micro-culture was already established so you see the kids and grandkids of the original Jewish alumni returning to the same places that served their family well when Jews were institutionally discriminated against in other parts of the country.
Every southern Christian I know believes Jews are “the chosen people” and treat them with nothing but respect.
It’s the Muslims who have to worry around here.
Funny but true.
I grew up just north of you and was taught that you are to respect the Jews; they’re the children of God! The families that I heard were Jewish were thought of as industrious business people.
Now if he ran afoul of some of todays 4-wheelin, Skoal-suckin backwoods rednecks there might be a problem, but they aren’t going to be at college nor probably even recognize a name as Jewish.
That may depend on the location.
See, here in Texas, there are LOTS of Muslims, and many different kinds of Muslims. It may sound hard to believe, but some Arabs, Iranis and Pakistani girls who grow up in Texas end up being pretty ordinary All-American boys… or even very SOUTHERN girls.
And you can’t necessarily tell the Americanized kids from the way they dressed. I’ve met Iranian-American women (Moms of my son’s friends and classmates) who keep their heads and bodies covered, but who are still VERY American!
Seriously, there are women in hijabs or chadors who’ll yell “Guns up!” or “Hook 'em” or “Go Sooners” like any other proud Big 12 alumna.
There definitely ARE Southern whites who are hostile to the of Islam, but there’s more ethnic and cultural diversity here than you’d expect.