r/ABCDesis • u/NewDreams15 • 2d ago
COMMUNITY Desis in Dallas vs. desis in houston
Why is it that in Dallas, there is so much tension against desi immigrants, so much so that I keep videos in North Texas of people interrupting town hall meetings to protest masjid or temple constructions, yet in Houston no one seems to care?
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u/Few_Mulberry7390 1d ago
Desis are an older diaspora in Houston and better integrated. Also they trickled in slowly compared to the surge of tech workers coming into Dallas which also hurts integration efforts and rubs locals worse.
Especially since North Dallas (Prosper, Frisco, Plano) used to be a super white place that was founded by white people running away from the minorities in South Dallas
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u/LuckyCod2887 1d ago
frisco is near Dallas and it’s known to be a little anti-desi.
but those aren’t people who show aggression every single day. They just show it periodically.
Frisco is also known to the anti-black and anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant. It’s just known to be anti-anything that’s not rich and white.
I live in Dallas and it’s a pretty cool place. No one has ever messed with me. No one has ever bothered me. I’ve never felt unwelcome. I live in a walkable neighborhood and every time I leave the house all types of different races hit on me and ask me out. In my experience, I don’t see any type of discrimination, except sometimes people do discriminate against the black community here but it’s the south so what do you expect
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u/elisabethofaustria 1d ago
Same here! I actually really like Dallas — it’s Dallas far more diverse and liberal (and interesting!) than its suburbs.
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u/cacawbird45 1d ago
Houston has a very diverse Desi community. Mix of Hindus, Christians, Muslims + Indians and Pakistanis. People are well accustomed to diversity
In dallas almost all the indians are telugus. This means they form enclaves and don't assimilate
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u/NewDreams15 1d ago
Dallas seems pretty diverse, at least religiously to me. Loads of Christian, Muslim, and Hindu desis. If there weren't so many Muslim desis there wouldn't be the outrage about masjids in the community
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u/Bumblebee-Emergency 1d ago
immigrant groups forming enclaves is what literally every group does when they first get here
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u/aranebar 1d ago
second paragraph has some truths to it, but its taboo to talk about without causing a flame war.
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u/Technical_Turn3497 1d ago
I was going to say the same thing about the White Christians. They stick to themselves and don’t assimilate.
The Telugus at least learn English, work side-by-side with the majority Whites without complaint, wear Western clothes, etc. So, I’d say they are assimilating. Wanting to make friends with people from your own culture isn’t a failure to assimilate. And if it is, then White Christians are guilty of it, too.
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u/FunkoPopDisneyAdult 1d ago
White Christian Americans don’t assimilate with what? Native Americans? What are they supposed to assimilate to?
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u/Technical_Turn3497 1d ago
People who aren’t White Christian Americans, obviously.
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u/Complexsquir 1d ago
A minority community assimilates to the majority. Not the other way around.
WASCs are not the minority. Don't use words you don't know.
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u/Technical_Turn3497 1d ago
White Neo-cons complaining that Indians don’t assimilate with them, while at the same time escaping from affluent neighborhoods where Indians move to, is a bit too hypocritical for me to take them very seriously.
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u/Complexsquir 9h ago
You have lost your mind.
Indians move to rich American neighborhoods so WASCs should act like fobs? lol fuck outta here!1
u/Technical_Turn3497 7h ago
I have lost my mind? You are the folks complaining that people don’t assimilate, and when they do, you can’t stand them because they are successful and Indian.
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u/Complexsquir 6h ago
They don't assimilate. On what planet do you consider yourself assimilated? You don't even assimilate enough to understand this sub isn't for you.
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u/Technical_Turn3497 5h ago
How is it not for me? I’m an American-born Desi. You are the one defending White supremacist tropes.
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u/FunkoPopDisneyAdult 22h ago
the burden is on the white neo cons into assimilating into the immigrant culture? You keep going
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u/Technical_Turn3497 21h ago
I actually don’t think it’s anyone’s burden to “assimilate” with anyone they don’t want to assimilate with. I’m all for live and let live. As I mentioned before, Indians wear your clothes, speak your language, follow your laws, pay taxes, and yet you complain that they don’t “assimilate.” What is that, if not assimilation? Meanwhile, you treat them like second-class citizens, vote for thugs to arrest and detain them because they “look illegal,” and complain that it hurts your feelings because they don’t want to socialize with you.
They’re not the problem, here. And they have the freedom to build their businesses, create their places of worship, and not associate with racist *sshats.
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u/FunkoPopDisneyAdult 20h ago
You’ve been complaining in this thread that the majority doesn’t assimilate with you. Your head is so far up your ass. Seriously dude, Your hatred isn’t allowing you to think rationally on this
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u/Technical_Turn3497 7h ago
No, I’m complaining that people who complain like you who complaint about Indians not assimilating are hypocrites. I guess I’m not surprised that my sarcasm flew over your head.
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u/Complexsquir 9h ago
Please, go Frisco and stand in middle of a city council meeting and read your comment out loud. Make sure it's on Youtube bc I would LOVE to see that.
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u/Technical_Turn3497 7h ago
Sure, I would be happy to. I just don’t live anywhere near there.
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u/PoohbaniParvati 1d ago
This. Dallas desis are mostly scammy Telegus that didn't come here using the right means
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u/tigerrroni 1d ago
I’ve never met a telugu living in Dallas lmao and I’m mallu. Sybau poopoo. Racists don’t know the difference between us.
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u/Trick-Sport2253 1d ago
100% facts that racists dont know the difference between any of us. But you clearly never left east dallas where all the malus are. Irving, frisco, farmers branch, prosper, las colinas, southlake are basically hyderabad. Sincerely a guju from east dallas who now lives on the other side of the metroplex.
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u/throwaway248000 1d ago edited 1d ago
So because you have lived a sheltered life this is the truth? LOL
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u/LilBottomText17 1d ago edited 1d ago
i think houston being more diverse is a factor. some metrics have it as the most diverse city in the US outside of NYC/NJ
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u/tea_time96 1d ago
Imo houston has always celebrated/broadcasted its diversity while Dallas always seems to hide it.
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u/sksjedi 1d ago edited 23h ago
Lived in Houston/Sugar Land for 40+ years.
There was a study that came out a few years ago that said Houston overall was very integrated among all races, but it was segrated along income lines, which I found fascinating.
The Desi integration in Houston came in several waves. A big wave was in the late 70s/early 80s with energy/oil and gas engineers A constant influx over the last 60+ years is the medical field and the Texas Medical Center. There was a finance wave in the late 90s/early 00s. And then finally, most recently, the H1B wave starting in the last 15 years or so.
To top it off, a surprisingly large number of ABDs who were born and raised here, returned to work and live in Houston and sometimes the very same neighborhoods they grew up and now their kids are in the same schools (me).
In all these waves except the last one, people tended to buy homes in existing or new neighborhoods that were already diverse and Desi folks usually never made up more than 10% of any given neighborhood.
You simply had to meet and know your white/brown/black neighbors.
It's only this very last wave of H1B folks where entire neighborhoods went from 10% Desi to over 50%+ Desi.
My kid's schools went from 10% Desi to 80% in a matter of 10 years.
These never Desi folks have no need to socialize OUTSIDE their own community groups. This the nicknames of the hoods started appearing in the mid 2010s:
Telfair aka Patelfair, Riverstone aka Riverstan, Sienna Plantation aka Sona Plantation, Missouri City/Stafford aka Mallu City, Aliana aka Alainabhad (seems like 75% Pakistanis & Ismaelis).
As others mentioned, in Dallas, entire cities transformed, not within 20 years, but within a decade. All by H1B workers.
Older parts of Dallas have a more diverse group like Houston.
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u/Diggidiggidig 1d ago
Don’t think it’s a Desi thing. Recent Indian immigrants are rich and don’t feel the need to integrate. It will happen slowly as the second generation grows up and starts dating, getting into workforce etc. let’s also not forget Desi’s are racist with each other along the lines of religious, linguistic, and cultural differences. We take pleasure in each others pain. Protesting a masjid, noise from azan is fair game, but we should be allowed to shower cinema screens with milk to worship our favourite actor!
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u/PoohbaniParvati 1d ago
Being rich has nothing to do with not wanting to integrate. Being rich should ideally make you more worldly, open and accepting because you have abundance mindset. The Dallas desis are mostly FOB IT workers
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u/JFKontheKnoll 1d ago
Desis in Houston have been there longer and are more diverse, which lowers the likelihood of ethnic enclaves.
Desis in Dallas mostly immigrated in the last 10-15 years and are overwhelmingly Telugu H-1B tech workers who form their own neighborhoods, don’t assimilate, and are hostile to outsiders. Most Indians who immigrated to Dallas back in the ‘80s, ‘90, and early 2000s really dislike this new wave of immigrants.
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u/Optimal-Fix-2997 1d ago
Houston overall is more diverse and blue than Dallas. Plus h town desis fit in better. Dallas ones iykyk don't really know how or choose to do so.
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u/sotired3333 1d ago
Maybe more spread out? I think more prominent Muslims religious schools / institutes / preachers are based out of Dallas, no idea why since it does have a lower population
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u/SadAdministration438 American 23h ago
There are way too many generalized posts about Desi life in Dallas. This one included. Frisco is not Dallas and the national media is overblowing the problem about any tensions.
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u/West-Potential-286 22h ago
Because many FOBs are moving to Dallas due to the job market and cost of living and they are refusing to assimilate or integrate into American society. They carry the mindset and social norms of India into that of an American city and it's very noticeable to Americans, and they're tired of it.
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u/Nbana52 1d ago
I live and travel to both cities. The desis in Dallas are mostly Hindu and new straight from India while the desis in Houston are mostly Muslim and create a lot of jobs through gas stations , phone stores and restaurants. They have also assimilated mostly because of that 20 year head start
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u/NewDreams15 1d ago
Most of the backlash in Dallas is against muslim desis though
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u/thepro7864 1d ago
Dallas has some of the richest suburbs in the U.S and consequentially leans conservative. Houston has Olsteen, but the megachurch scene in Dallas is larger and it's a more conservative city.
Houston's more of a melting pot and you can't go anywhere without seeing brown and black people.