On a sunny Tuesday morning on the edge of the Westchase part of Houston, a man in a “Be Someone” green shirt makes bigoted remarks, out of the open, to a dog-walking interracial couple, identified to be Andy Tran and his fiancée. Tran was filming the bigoted man continuously, as the couple were all but silent during this incident.
Look at that, it’s an ugly ass motherfucker! Yeah, fuck you, Jew! Take your Jewish technology and film me, boy! You little motherfucking pussy, I’m in the street, boy! Come at me! I’ll beat the fuck out of you!
[dog growling]
Jewish couple right there! Jewish couple! Jewish couple! Jewish couple, look at that fat motherfucker! Probably don’t get outside. Jewish couple!
Film me boy! I’m better looking than you! Motherfucker! Fuck you film me for?
[dog growling more angrily]
Jew-S-A. The Jews. You got an ugly looking boyfriend! You’re all like all white whores that think (?) [anti-black racial slur] and Mexicans fucking shits (?) all over the goddamn place. Ugly motherfuckers!
[inaudible speech from the green shirt-wearing man]
Film me boy! Film a real man! Little bitch walking there on the sidewalk, fucking bitch. Fuck you, motherfucker!
[dog growls at the green shirt-wearing man]
Film me up, walking. (Yeah.) Fuck away from me, ugly ass bitch. You ugly ass little, well, what are you, [anti-Asian slur]? Mexican? I don’t know what the fuck you are, you ugly. Ugly fucker.
"My bells were getting a little rattled, but we were trying to ignore him," Tran recalled. "We were also thinking it was a joke at first, because this has never happened to us."
Tran, who is Asian, and his fiancée, who is white, continued walking. He took note that they were near an elementary school on its last day in session and didn't want to cause a scene in front of the schoolchildren, he said. The man initially turned around and walked away, Tran explained, but a few blocks down the road, the couple turned around and saw him walking toward them again. That's when Tran started recording on his phone.
The “Be Someone” logo printed on the man’s shirt has been a fixture of Houston as the slogan was prominently printed on a train bridge near Downtown Houston. Ironically, the racist man was anything but encouraging, at least not in a positive light. However, Twitter users have been encourage to write witty remarks.
Perhaps some “cultural anxiety” in play? After all, many of America’s insurrectionists originate from diversifying cities and suburbs. Plus, anti-immigrant “populists” like Don Huffines and Ken Paxton have performed well in Houston-area counties in comparison to many other urban areas (and even to many rural areas, in some cases) in the state of Texas, during the March primary and the May runoff, respectively. Granted, many moderates have trended Democratic in recent years, but the shift towards the Democratic Party has been slower in Houston-area counties compared to counties in the Dallas and Austin metro areas; Republicans in the Trump era have had a gain in raw votes in Montgomery and Galveston counties, in addition to Harris County itself shifting less Democratic compared to Dallas and Travis counties despite demographic diversity. Although, Andy Tran himself has stated that he never experienced racial problems in his neck of the woods; he received support on Nextdoor and Reddit after posting the clip on these websites. Tran will continue his dog walks, with more caution.
As for the racist loudmouth who has yet to be identified, I personally won’t be surprised if he is a Ted Cruz fan.
A previous version of the article quoted the harassing man calling Tran “chief”. It has been edited to state that the harassing man has indeed called Tran an anti-Asian racial slur.