In my opinion, though I was very excited about Houston's 'diversity' upon my arrival, I find that the different cultures rarely step out of their comfort zones. I fiND that the AA population is pretty dispersed and was happy to see we are comfortably interacially coupled here, mostly with whites from what I see, or Africans. But I've been surprised at some of the very narow minded judgements,  expectations, and generalizations of black Americans or even americans period by other cultures who are here, and have been here for some time, and honestly aren't more open minded in understanding that 'american' in itself is a term that embodies so much diversity in culture. Just because we've been born here or here for generations doesn't mean we're all the same in the way of culture and lifestyle. They buy into the stereotypes, as many of us tend to do. But, unfortunately, there's a sea of very disconnected 'diversity' here which makes me sad. I even find other AA's are quicker to judge one another on steretypes that don't seem to hold or matter in other major cities I've lived and worked in (like what type of music you listen or how you speak, where you live, etc. It's so silly.) Understand that Houston is tolerant, now. But understand that they have created a spirit of tolerance not so much by acceptance, but by remaining cliquish, and shutting most people out beyond professional formal obligations (they only deal with you if they absolutely have to, to the extent they have to.) In some cases, like in the work world, this is better than other areas which are blatantly racist and can't hide it even for the sake of getting a job done. So 8f youre moving here with family and have like a 3 or 5 year plan, awesome. Stay focused. It won't be hard here. But if you're moving here without family and connections, it will be hard for you to find connections. Not many people here, period, regardless of cultural background, seem open or unguarded for making genuine connections. And after sometime you may find yourself, like I did, becoming gradually more guarded as well, for fear of rejection, which is totally not natural for my personality. I've been here 2 yrs. I'm very outgoing. Haven't made friends yet. I was born and raised east coast and spent many many years in the south east.  So coming here straight from the southeast, which is notorious for systemic racism, and being a person who has grown up with friends and or boyfriends of many backgrounds- American, African, European, Asian, Hispanic,  I find this place rather disheartening and hard to call home.
S. | Houston, TX | Report Abuse