Author: /u/should_I_or_nah

I get bothered a lot by the lack of respect people have for Houston. I understand s**t talking, complaining, and I understand not wanting to live here but deep down there is such a disrespect for Houston that I just never seem to understand.

People talk s**t about and hate on cities like Miami, LA and New York all the time but still have respect for them and see them as credible places. But Houston just seems to be disregarded in so many aspects as if we’re some city barren of any worth. Houston is the birthplace of Southern Rap – the Geto Boys, UGK, and DJ screw literally gave Houston a voice and a sound that changed MUSIC. Houston has been behind some of so many innovations and breakthroughs in medicine, technology, and architecture. We have top notch green spaces, bayous, and at the intersection of very interesting ecosystems. Houston has grown to be the most diverse city in the country, but even prior black, tejano, native american, and asian cultures have always existed here and have contributed a lot of history to this town and those histories have such an important part in our overall nations history (like Junteenth and the foundation of Emancipation park). Tex-Mex was innovated here and the history and so cultures here have contributed to a food scene that you can’t enjoy anywhere else.

This also doesn’t include world-class Museums and spaces like The Menil, Rothko Chapel, MFAH or our performing arts institutions that have commissioned ground breaking master pieces or producing top performers and performances like The Alley, The Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Ballet. Outside of that there is always something going on and things to see and do.

I just don’t get it. I also see people say all the time “you need to get out.” I’ve come to love and appreciate Houston the more I traveled and lived abroad. I lived in Mexico City which is a truly world-class city. I’ve also lived in Colombia and been surrounded by mountains and beautiful nature. I’ve traveled around the US. Houston isn’t perfect by any means, and I also understand why people wouldn’t want to live here. I myself am thinking of leaving just because the pandemic has made me rethink of where I want to settle roots. But just the lack of respect that people have for Houston as a city, it’s culture and history. It just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s like so many people have never left their neighborhood (if they’re from Houston… which I believe cause I know so many people who have never been to the Menil or spent time in lower westheimer or in hermann park) or their hotel room…. or the airport. I just don’t get it. You can still dislike a place and have respect for it. Just feel like Houston doesn’t get that at all.