Daughter of Astros legend Caminiti calls out racism she witnessed growing up
Nicole Caminiti says she “grew up very privileged and was handed almost every opportunity needed to succeed.”
And she’s tired of turning her back on the realities of systemic racism.
In a post titled “A Message to the Pecan Grove Community” on Medium, a self-publishing online platform, Caminiti, the daughter of late Astros legend Ken Caminiti, calls out Pecan Grove in Fort Bend County for what she says are racist attitudes and street names. The post has ruffled feathers in the affluent subdivision and made Caminiti the target of online attacks.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 2019, Pecan Grove’s makeup was 84.4 percent white. Caminiti, 23, says she’s been consistently dismayed by racist posts in a Pecan Grove Facebook group.
“People will see a black kid riding his bike and be like, ‘There’s a hoodlum, be careful, he’s in a hoodie,’ ” Caminiti said during a phone call. “People are saying, ‘All lives matter, all lives matter.’ They just don’t know what’s going on.”
George Floyd, who grew up in Third Ward, was killed last month by a white Minneapolis police officer who pinned him to the ground with his knee. Floyd’s death has sparked massive worldwide protests to highlight police brutality and systemic racism.
“I’ve been protesting in Austin and seeing what’s happening. They just only know what’s on Fox News,” Caminiti said.
Guy Steiger, president of the Pecan Grove Property Owners Association, has lived there for eight years and called Caminiti's assessment “unfair.”
“I think that most people think that there are some points that she brought up that are valid. But I think to place the scope on the neighborhood is not necessarily fair,” Geiger said. “This is an issue that lies everywhere, so to point the finger at and call out the name Pecan Grove as the issue I think is unfair.”
Caminiti says her original piece was much more “radical,” but she toned it down in hopes of reaching more people. In the current post, she recounts confronting the realities of racism as a child.
“Some of my black friends did not feel comfortable coming over to my house in Pecan Grove. In 7th grade, one of my closest friends (who is black) rode the school bus home with me for the first time. As we entered the neighborhood, she asked ‘Does that sign say Plantation?’ I said yes, and we were both quiet for a little while. I didn’t really understand why she asked, because at the time I didn’t associate plantation with slavery, I associated it with my neighborhood. Read that last sentence again.
“Pecan Grove was obviously built to reflect old southern ideology. After all, Old South Dr is one of the main streets in PG. In addition to Old South, we have Confederate Ct, Plantation Dr, Old Dixie
Dr, Colonel Ct, and my least favorite of them all, Brown School Ct. I am not writing this to shame the PG community, as none of us built this place. I am NOT writing this to persuade the PG community to update the street names, although some should be changed. I am NOT writing this to encourage anyone to ‘forget our state’s history.’ No, I am writing this to shine a light on a problem that many of you do not want to acknowledge. Our community does not welcome the black community as well as we should.
“When your white children tell their black friends that they live on Plantation Dr, Confederate Ct, or Brown School Ct, these black children do not think of streets, they think of racism.”
Steiger admits Pecan Grove has room for improvement.
“Are there issues in the neighborhood? Yes, absolutely. I don’t think there’s a neighborhood in Houston or in Texas that you’re not gonna have similar circumstances. I just think the way it was presented was maybe a little generalized. I don’t really think it's to that extent,” Steiger said.
Steiger said there “hasn’t really been a big discussion” previously about the street names — Confederate, Plantation, Old Dixie — Caminiti brings up.
“I guess maybe some people might view it differently than others. If you wanna look at every street name and make a determination as to whether it’s borderline insensitive or not, I’m sure everybody would have their opinion. Personally for me, although I can kind of understand some people’s thoughts on it, it doesn’t bother me,” he said.
“I think it’s good intentions. That discussion should be had. I just think to point the finger at Pecan Grove is not accurate.”
Caminiti goes on to urge Pecan Grove residents to welcome black neighbors and “understand their frustration with systemic racism and years and years of oppression.” She says many responses have been positive. But some have been hostile, including personal attacks.
“A man posted a screenshot of my dad’s Wikipedia page (highlighting) my dad’s cocaine issue and how he died. People were commenting, saying a bunch of really bad stuff about my dad,” Caminiti said. That post was eventually deleted.
“Someone called me a liberal slut, and it got deleted. I’m being racist toward white people, that’s what I’m seeing a lot of. Just a lot of trash talk.”
But Caminiti says despite the pushback, she won’t be swayed.
“I don’t understand how you can say you live on Confederate Court and not think of racism,” she says. “Just by not commenting or saying something, I feel like I was enabling it. Now I’m just done with it. I think people need to be called out, and I think I was too nice to them. No more being nice. I'm gonna be honest.”