# Old South racism alive and well in Texas **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663 "2005-06-09T22:38:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/1 "2005-06-09T22:38:46Z")
I always though Bumfuck Texas was fictional but apparently it [really exists](http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/nation/11828316.htm). > [@](#): > > They picked up Billy Ray Johnson outside a convenience store in this East Texas bayou town, a place where Confederate flags fly in some front yards and a mural of barefoot slaves picking cotton greets patrons inside the local post office. > > On a cool September night in 2003, they drove the 42-year-old mentally retarded black man to a cow pasture where a crowd of white youths was having a party. They got Johnson drunk, they made him dance, they jeered at him with racial epithets. > > Then, according to court testimony, one of Johnson’s assailants punched him in the face, knocking him out cold. They tossed his unconscious body into the back of a pickup and dumped him by the side of a dirt road, on top of a mound of stinging fire ants. > > Johnson, who family members say functioned at the level of a 12-year-old before the attack, was in a coma for a week. He suffered a brain hemorrhage that slurred his speech, weakened his legs and deprived him of his ability to take care of himself. His body was covered with hundreds of painful ant bites. > > Today he lives on public assistance, confined to a nursing home in nearby Texarkana, where his family fears he will have to remain for the rest of his life. > > The four young white men convicted of various charges in the incident are confined in the county jail, but not for long. A judge last month sentenced three of the four to terms of 30 days in jail, and the fourth to 60 days. > > Even that, however, was more than the jurors who heard two of the cases thought appropriate: They acquitted the defendants of the most serious charges and recommended no jail time at all. > > \ > > But to many whites here, the incident was simply a story of some “good ole boys” drinking too much and getting out of hand. Here’s what the esteemed mayor of Bumfuck had to say: > [@](#): > > “It was a very unfortunate and senseless thing,” said Wilford Penny, 73, who last month completed a 6-year term as Linden’s mayor. “But I don’t think there was anything racial about it. These guys were drinking, and this guy (Johnson) liked to dance. I’m not surprised when they get to drinking and use the n-word. The black boy was somewhere he shouldn’t have been, although they brought him out there.” “The black boy was somewhere he shouldn’t have been?” What the fuck? A mentally retarded man with the mental age of a 12 year old is _brought to this place by the criminals_ and the mayor thinks it’s his own fault for being there? No wonder he’s the mayor. It seems this town has had other incidents before: > [@](#): > > There was the case in 1994 when a black man who had been dating a white woman was found dead from a gunshot to the groin. And another in 2001, when a black man who had been dating a white woman was found hanging from a tree. Local officials ruled the first case a hunting accident and the second a suicide, despite the persistent doubts of family members and civil rights officials. > > “There are a few areas in Texas that have kind of bypassed the civil rights era,” said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas branch of the NAACP. “Linden is one of those. It’s an island of the `50s up there.” No hate crime charges were pressed in the current case because the authorities decided (despite the testimony of witnesses that the victim was subjected to racial taunts and references to the KKK) that he was victimized because of his mental disability instead of his race: > [@](#): > > “This was a bunch of guys who were mean-spirited and cruel, and they abused a black man who was retarded,” said Malcolm Bales, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in Marshall, Texas, which covers Cass County. “That’s terrible. But it doesn’t give rise to a federal civil rights case.” So I guess hate crimes are ok if you do it to retarded people. The most maddening quote for me came from tehs tupid bitch mother of one of the perps: > [@](#): > > Most of the defendants’ families declined requests for interviews about the case. But Martha Howell, Hicks’ mother, said her son never touched Johnson and didn’t deserve to be punished. > > “These boys’ names are ruined for life,” Howell said. “And (Johnson) is better off today than he’s ever been in his life. He roamed the streets, the family never knew where he was. Now in the nursing home he’s got someone to take care of him.” > > That is not how Johnson sees it. > > As he sat recently in the cramped, stuffy room he shares with another nursing home patient, idly thumbing some faded photos of old junk cars he’d like someday to restore, Johnson was asked how he’s feeling these days. > > “I want to go home,” he said emphatically, in his only words intelligible to a visitor. “Home.” I don’t want to generalize anything into a sweeping judgement of the south or of Texas but fucking Christ on a stick what else can you say about this one town and how many other nasty little small town pockets like this one still fester in the armpits of Dixie? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/2 "2005-06-09T22:46:19Z")
Well, when I am God Emperor of the World, I know just where to resume nuclear testing. That place is a waste of space. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/3 "2005-06-09T22:49:19Z")
Christ can you guys over generalize a little more. This is how racism starts. You take the actions of a few individuals and generalize to the whole town. Good going fucknuts… ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/4 "2005-06-09T22:53:03Z")
As a black man who has heavily travelled these United States, I can attest that just off the beaten path, you’ll find towns like this just about anywhere. P.S. I thought Bumfuck was in Idaho. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/5 "2005-06-09T23:05:44Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > You take the actions of a few individuals and generalize to the whole town. Good going fucknuts… Except, of course, that the whole town seems to accept it. Note that the jury, the conscience of the community, acquitted on the serious charges (I assume some sort of felony assault and battery), convicted on minor or lesser included charges and recommended no jail time. I suspect that it is fair to conclude that this community regards the life of a Black Man to be of no value. I also suspect, given the way the Texas trial and appeals judges are selected, that the whole community would not have accepted any more severe a punishment. This is not the way racism starts, it is the way racism is preserved. That there may be many communities with this mind set is no reason to think that this particular instance should not be roundly condemned. What do you suppose are the chances of a federal civil rights violation prosecution. ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/6 "2005-06-09T23:09:41Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > Christ can you guys over generalize a little more. This is how racism starts. You take the actions of a few individuals and generalize to the whole town. Good going fucknuts… A few individuals, please give me a F\*\*\*\*\*\* break. We’re talking about the group of youth’s who committed the crime, at least some of their relatives, the Mayor, the people on the jury (another 12), and other residents discussed in the OP **out of a town of 2,220 people (2000 Census)** Add to that the previous murders and the resulting justice and I’d say you have a pretty strong case that the town fits the OP’s “generalization” and I’ve certainly been to more than my fair share of similar towns that fit the description (and they are not limited to either Texas or the South). ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/7 "2005-06-09T23:32:09Z")
I think the situation as described is dispicable and that the racist bastards should be hung. What I take exception to is painting the whole town with the racist brush. The jury is not the conscience of the community it is merely twelve fucktards. One poster advocated nuclear testing in the whole town. not on the racist bastards but the whole fucking town. Tell me how thats different than bumfuck racist saying all niggers are X. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/8 "2005-06-09T23:35:27Z")
I’m tempted to contact my Texas state representatives and inquire about the feasability of adding the mentally and physically disabled to the protected classes under hate crimes bills. I’ve given up hope of sexual orientation being added, but surely even Texas state reps can get behind stricter punishment for bastards who target the mentally retarded. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/9 "2005-06-09T23:35:40Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > One poster advocated nuclear testing in the whole town. not on the racist bastards but the whole fucking town. Tell me how thats different than bumfuck racist saying all niggers are X. Well, it’s OK to advocate that if it’s Texas. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/10 "2005-06-09T23:41:46Z")
Jesus Christ, that’s just _bizzare_. They should have been convicted of aggravated assault, 2-20, they should have gotten prison time, and if it’d happened here, they undoubtably would have. Ordinarily, you just don’t go beating mentally retarded people into comas and throwing them in anthills and skate with probation, even in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/11 "2005-06-09T23:44:29Z")
Well, there are pockets of humanity dispersed throughout the state so tactical nulear weapons would be okay to target the fuckheads. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/12 "2005-06-09T23:47:45Z")
I lived in Cass County from the time I was six until I graduated at 18. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in Linden except to pass through it, but not all of us from small east Texas towns are like that. I know **silenus** was just being facetious (I mean, really; God Emperor of the World? I find that a little hard to believe. Where’s the megamaniacal laugh?), but talking about annihilation of an entire area means blaming everyone for the actions of some. I hope the NAACP is successful in getting more charges against those guys, and I hope they go to prison for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/13 "2005-06-09T23:48:36Z")
> [@Fionn](#): > > I’m tempted to contact my Texas state representatives and inquire about the feasability of adding the mentally and physically disabled to the protected classes under hate crimes bills. I’ve given up hope of sexual orientation being added, but surely even Texas state reps can get behind stricter punishment for bastards who target the mentally retarded. And what happens when a hate crime charge goes before the same morally retarded jury? ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/14 "2005-06-09T23:52:37Z")
Those people might be beyond hope. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/15 "2005-06-10T00:01:06Z")
The sad thing is, they probably _were_ charged with injury to a disabled individual, a third degree felony with a range of 2-10 years if it causes “injury” rather than “serious bodily injury.” They just didn’t get convicted, or didn’t get enough time. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/16 "2005-06-10T00:43:21Z")
> [@Stuffy](#): > > P.S. I thought Bumfuck was in Idaho. Maybe you’re thinking of Assboink, Idaho. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/17 "2005-06-10T00:51:52Z")
What happened in that community was horribly cruel. The four young people involved should have been tried as adults if they had not arrived at majority. The decision of the jury was shameful. The mayor’s words are inexcusable. I remember what it was like to live in a segregated Southern town of 2,000 and to know the extremes of opinions on the issues of race. To paint this entire white community as being of one mind is ignorant. It is just as ignorant as those who portray all Americans as war-mongers. Why is racism always relegated to the “Old South” when it occurs in the South, but when it happens on Long Island or in Massachusetts, it is never “Old New England” racism or “Old New York” racism? _Nothing_ can excuse the brutality of racism wherever it has existed or still exists. Slavery existed in NYC for over two hundred years. How long did it last in the South? Which state released its slaves first – Delaware or Tennessee? The South was on the wrong side when it supported slavery during the Civil War. But the Union states had also supported slavery only a generation or two before. How morally superior does that make them and their descendants? **Bigotry is ugly in all of its forms, DtC. That includes bigotry against Southerns. What have you done in your life _personally_ to atone for the evils of racism and the perpetuation of stereotypes? When push comes to shove, isn’t that what makes the real difference?** ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/18 "2005-06-10T00:55:37Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > Christ can you guys over generalize a little more. This is how racism starts. You take the actions of a few individuals and generalize to the whole town. Good going fucknuts… Ok, who in that town spoke out against that racist and ignorant Mayor, those racist goons that did the attacks, or condemned the Jury for a too lenient verdict? I mean- if you can show me an editorial, a proets, a recall movement, or something similar- I’ll cut the town some slack, and agree it wasn’t representative of the town. But if only a few did the bad thing, but a few more supported them- and no one spoke out against it- then that condemns them all- as moral cowards at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/19 "2005-06-10T00:57:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > a proets. That’s “protest”. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663/20 "2005-06-10T01:03:00Z")
Just because our society is touchy about bigotry doesn’t mean it’s the only evil there is, or the worst. These good ole boys brutally assaulted someone weaker than themselves, giving him permanent brain damage, because they thought it was funny. I find that a repulsive act of bullying, and I don’t care if Mr. Johnson was black or a direct descendent of Myles fucking Standish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-south-racism-alive-and-well-in-texas/307663.md?page=2)