The Straits Times World News
· collected 2026-09-05 · by Bhagyashree Garekar
The article reports on Bhagyashree Garekar's personal experience visiting Vidor, Texas, which has been labeled as one of the "most hate-filled towns" in the state, due to its history as a "sundown town". According to a database maintained by Tougaloo College, there were thousands of sundown towns across the US from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, where certain racial and ethnic groups were unwelcome. The article highlights Vidor's shift towards a more inclusive atmosphere, with some residents and officials claiming that things have improved significantly since the early 1990s. However, Garekar notes that social media still contains warnings from black motorists to avoid the town.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event.
American Evolution
America’s political maps are shifting.
asserted
maps → shift → ?
So is who can win
The weight of a new era is pressing in.
asserted
pressing → win → era
The second Trump presidency is unfolding against the backdrop of escalating political tensions, geoeconomic disruption and shifting demographics.
asserted
presidency → unfold → tensions
Can the US adapt quickly enough?
asserted
US → adapt → ?
ST’s US bureau chief Bhagyashree Garekar reports as America celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2026.
asserted
America → report → 2026
A 10-minute detour to get to a cheaper hotel on a drive from Houston to Philadelphia led me to a “sundown town”.
asserted
detour → get → town
That may evoke sunsets and beaches in a resort town.
uncertain
That → evoke → town
But that illusion was quickly dispelled.
asserted
illusion → dispel → ?
This label had overtones of menace, I soon discovered.
asserted
I → have → menace
Waiting at the front desk to get the room keys, I asked what I thought was a casual question – what’s this place like?
asserted
place → wait → what
The young receptionist, with hair swept up in a blonde ponytail, went quiet.
asserted
receptionist → sweep → ponytail
“Well, it doesn’t have the best history for black and brown people,” she said after a beat.
asserted
she → have → beat
“They say it was a sundown town.
asserted
it → say → ?
But I’ve been here for two years, and it’s all fine now,” she added quickly.
asserted
she → ’ → years
“It has a reputation – I don’t know that it’s deserved.”
asserted
it → have → reputation
That was my abrupt introduction to Vidor, tagged for decades as the “most hate-filled town in Texas”.
asserted
That → tag → Texas
Curious to learn more, I googled local news.
asserted
I → learn → news
Only a few crime reports turned up, none too recent.
asserted
reports → turn → ?
And nothing leapt out during a late evening drive around the town, just modest low-rise houses, small shops and fast food restaurants.
asserted
nothing → leap → town
A “sundown” sign that bluntly warned “whites only within city limits after dark” was reportedly removed from Vidor only some time in the 1970s or the 1980s.
uncertain
that → warn → 1970s
In scattered mentions on social media, some black motorists say they grew up being told to avoid Vidor and that, even now, they would not consider stopping there for a bite to eat or to refuel.
asserted
they → scatter → bite
A database maintained by an educational site hosted by Tougaloo College, a historically black institution in Mississippi, says sundown towns numbered in the thousands and were found across the US from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.
asserted
towns → maintain → century
It’s not just the blacks who were kept out.
asserted
who → ’ → ?
The “Delta Chinese”, recruited to work on cotton plantations in Mississippi, suffered decades of segregation.
asserted
Chinese → recruit → segregation
Vidor residents and officials claim things are vastly different now.
uncertain
things → claim → ?
They say it’s unfair to tarnish the town in 2026.
asserted
it → say → 2026
The last bit of substantial nastiness was in the early 1990s over a federal judge’s order to desegregate the city’s public housing.
asserted
bit → desegregate → housing
In response, four black families moved in but eventually left after facing sustained hostilities from the white supremacist organisation, the Ku Klux Klan.
asserted
families → move → organisation
In 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, a rally in the town drew a supportive crowd, mostly white.
asserted
rally → draw → crowd
Some counter-protesters also showed up, with loaded guns and confederate flags, a controversial symbol of southern pride and also slavery.
asserted
protesters → show → pride
They shouted that it was the black rights movement that was racist because all lives mattered.
asserted
lives → shout → ?
A vivid account of that rally won The Economist a Pulitzer Prize in 2021.
asserted
account → win → 2021
The town, which wears a dour look, as though trying without success to surmount its past, remains nearly all-white today.
asserted
which → wear → past
Blacks count for a mere 0.3 per cent of residents.
asserted
Blacks → count → residents
Its population peaked at 11,800 in 1980 and has been shrinking since.
asserted
population → peak → 1980
Vidor may be the outlier, but in travels through several southern states – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee – I saw evidence of America’s racial past still tailgating its present.
uncertain
past → see → present
In a country where 14 per cent of the population is black, the second-biggest racial or ethnic minority after the Hispanics, the upcoming midterm elections have become more than the usual face-off between the Republicans and the Democrats.
asserted
elections → become → Republicans
Bigger and more basic questions appear to be on the ballot in the 250th year of American independence: who can vote, whose votes can make a difference, who actually belongs.
asserted
who → appear → difference
And a few states are still to hold their primary nominating contests.
asserted
states → hold → contests
But in 2025, 67 black lawmakers took the oath at Capitol Hill.
asserted
lawmakers → take → Hill
…and 57 more, not listed.
