Anyone know anything about the town of Vidor, Texas?

[BreweryYardRat]

It was mentioned over on Something Awful, and I thought I'd ask if this quote was correct:

"Vidor is an all-white town, when the government tried to integrate the city's housing project about this time ten years ago, the town called in every Ku Klux Klan chapter in the nation to drive them out. The last black holdout was likely murdered by those KKK people.

If you're not white, it is a dangerous place. The town even had a sign at the city limit - 'N***** don't let the sun set on you in Vidor.'"

If it's true, that's pretty pathetic.

[babylonsister]

1. Isn't this the town where that poor black man was dragged behind

a vehicle and killed by a couple of knuckledragging rednecks a few years back?

Edit to add: Maybe not. This could be the story I'm dredging up:

http://www.kordelski.org/vidor2.html

The Story:
On September 1st, 1993, Bill Simpson, 36, was murdered 11 hours after he fled the housing complex in the notoriously all white town of Vidor, Texas. Simpson was the last African-American to leave Vidor after a failed government experiment in forced integration.

[kenny blankenship]

4. Jasper TX

[babylonsister]

5. Yes, thanks. I just added an edit to add the real story I recalled. nt

[jobycom]

9. Vido and Jasper are neighbors. nt

[BreweryYardRat]

6. Googling it, it appears James Byrd was murdered in Jasper, slightly north.

The murderers were Jasper natives, not coming up from Vidor, surprisingly enough.

Edit: Yeah, Bill Simpson was the Vidor-related murder. Poor fellow.

[asjr]

2. It was that way 50 years ago. I see it

hasn't changed.

[griffi94]

3. vidor

one of the most racist towns in the south
had a big blow-up there a few years ago
about public assisted housing, the locals fought it tooth and nail
because some of the residents were african american
the town where mr byrd was dragged to death was jasper

[prole_for_peace]

7. i live about 5 or so miles from vidor.

things have changed a little. some people of color do live there now but not many and there are still incidents that make me wonder. like a garage burning down and wondering if it was an accident or deliberate. there are some towns more northern to me that i think actually just at bad if not worse: kountze and lumberton. there maybe be some "non-whites" there but i don't see them when i drive through

[texasleo]

8. Vidor is on the border with Louisiana. Surprise, surprise.

[jobycom]

10. Sort of true. I once overheard a discussion at a gas station there

A group of teens, including the clerk, were discussing which towns were white and which were black. They were mapping out all of southeast Texas, all the way to Alice, near Houston. Nothing overtly hostile, but very segregated. This was within the last year, too.

TO be fair, one of the guys wasn't joining in, and he turned and looked at me while I waited for the clerk to stop her conversation. He looked apologetic and embarrassed. So it's not all bad.

The incident about the KKK chasing out the black residents of a housing project is true, and the last resident--an activist sort who was trying to fight the system--finally left. He was murdered within a week in Houston, and the rumor was it had to be something related to Vidor. I don't know if that was ever solved or not.

My father, white guy, got ripped off there a couple years ago, too, by a mechanic who charged him to rebuild a starter but didn't. So maybe it's just a mean place. It was once a haven for outlaws. I'm sure there are many good people around there, but there are enough bad to go around.

I've heard rumors of that sign, btw, but never saw it.

[1932]

11. IIRC, in Errol Morris's documentary, Thin Blue Line

the guy who probably was the real killer was from Vidor, IIRC.

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60034937&trkid=189533&strkid=1502763410_0_0