HONKEY-ASSED HONKEYVILLE
On Sunday the New York Times ran a story about a town near Fort Worth, which I am lead to believe is near Dallas, which I am lead to believe is infinitely far from Houston (*big breath*) called "White Settlement." The linked web page (for those of you too lazy to click the damned link) says that White Settlement is a "Unique Name for a Unique City." Uh oh. That's a bad start.
The page goes on to explain that White Settlement is so called because it was near several Indian villages and the whiteness of its settlers was the distinctive characteristic of the settlement. It was not, according to the page, some proto-apartheid, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson cracker-assed "no coloreds" town. I am willing to give the good people of White Settlement the benefit of the doubt (as if that matters). Still, tough name.
However, change is afoot in White Settlement. The name is not changing (the article was about a referendum in which residents voted by a 9-1 margin to keep the name), but there are two exhibits of change in the article. First, Wendell Sowards, 72, used to own an auto repair shop, but the auto repair shop has been converted by new owners into a Mexican restaurant. Mr. Sowards sayeth, "we don't have any racial problems; we just like our name." Second, Mr. Paris Ray, who is black, is an entrepeneur in town who does not believe that the name needs to change. He runs a store with his wife, who has a different last name from him(!) that sells imported products from the Philippines. Ay carumba!
On Sunday the New York Times ran a story about a town near Fort Worth, which I am lead to believe is near Dallas, which I am lead to believe is infinitely far from Houston (*big breath*) called "White Settlement." The linked web page (for those of you too lazy to click the damned link) says that White Settlement is a "Unique Name for a Unique City." Uh oh. That's a bad start.
The page goes on to explain that White Settlement is so called because it was near several Indian villages and the whiteness of its settlers was the distinctive characteristic of the settlement. It was not, according to the page, some proto-apartheid, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson cracker-assed "no coloreds" town. I am willing to give the good people of White Settlement the benefit of the doubt (as if that matters). Still, tough name.
However, change is afoot in White Settlement. The name is not changing (the article was about a referendum in which residents voted by a 9-1 margin to keep the name), but there are two exhibits of change in the article. First, Wendell Sowards, 72, used to own an auto repair shop, but the auto repair shop has been converted by new owners into a Mexican restaurant. Mr. Sowards sayeth, "we don't have any racial problems; we just like our name." Second, Mr. Paris Ray, who is black, is an entrepeneur in town who does not believe that the name needs to change. He runs a store with his wife, who has a different last name from him(!) that sells imported products from the Philippines. Ay carumba!
posted by David at 8:44 PM
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