Watching a documentary about the Brian Deneke incident in Amarillo.

[Brigid]

Amarillo sounds like a RW hellhole. Is it really that bad?

[onestepforward]

1. I lived there

for most of my life until my early 20s. I wasn't involved in politics, but my liberal parents were. Politics were more civil back then.

I enjoyed it and had diverse friends. I didn't hear a lot of racial slurs, just occasionally. There was a cool part of town that had a punk bar, a biker bar and a general bar all together on the same block. I never saw any problems when I went.

I has hit by culture shock when I moved from west Texas to east Texas. Houston itself is very diverse and mostly blue, but the outskirts are bright red and old South. I've never heard so much racism as I do now.

I've been away for decades and I don't know how things are now.

[Brigid]

2. The incident was in 1997, I think.

Brian Deneke was involved with the punk scene there, and some who weren't took exception to his mowhawk hairstyle and unconventional dress. A scuffle outside the IHOP one night ended with Deneke being run down by a car. This may have happened after you left.

[onestepforward]

3. I left in the early 80s.

I think it was more of an exception rather than the rule. I remember most folks being tolerant for the most part as I pushed the envelope quite a bit myself, but you have nuts every where.

I was sorry to hear about his story. I wasn't familiar with it until now.

[blogslut]

4. Well, it's very, very red

At the last measure by the Cook Partisan Voting Index, the Congressional district in which Amarillo resides (TX-13th) is tied with Alabama's 6th as the most Republican district in the nation.

However, Amarillo is no more populated by assholes than any other city or town. It's got a population just shy of 200,000 with a whole bunch of truly awesome lefties and liberals.