Immigrants reshape Houston, America’s most diverse metropolis

[yallerdawg]

2. Houston ain't your mother's Texas!

Well, not my mother's Texas (she became a radicalized Republican during Watergate -- has mellowed a bit with Medicare and Social Security, of course).

I grew up in Alief (a town outside Houston many years ago) and Sharpstown (just west of Bellaire) back when there were only a million people or so. It was diverse even then. Gays in Montrose, Chinese downtown, Vietnamese in Galveston, Mexican-Americans everywhere. Now it is the definition of multiculturalism!

We love to go back and visit my mother for very short periods of time -- like overnight. I've spent 25 years in rural Alabama (and I'm counting presently in Montgomery) and Houston is just too big! I've been bumper to bumper on interstates at 2 AM (you know, when the bars closed and everyone had to go home at the same time).

But this is the future of Texas. Houston, Austin and Dallas, Travis County, Dallas County, Houston County, the Rio Grande border, all Democrat. This is Wendy Davis country, no Bush/Perry/Abbott.

Compared to the old Texas, this is progress, and from the welcoming arms of a hopeful nation. The immigrant base is becoming Americanized and political. They will be spreading out across America. They will have a new perspective on what our government can do to help people, and the role good government can play in our lives.

These are the people who are with us to transform America to a more fair and equitable culture. Together, we can bring Democracy back to America.

Which would be a good start.