Texans Behaving Very Badly

Texan charged with hate crime for knockout punch of elderly African-American man

A white Texas man has been charged with a federal hate crime for allegedly assaulting a 79-year-old man because he was African-American. Katy resident Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, was arrested on December 26 for violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

In announcing the arrest, the FBI detailed the disturbing evidence, which included videos of Barrett making racial slurs, planning the attack and delivering a "knockout punch" to the man's jaw. The FBI describes the "knockout game" as an assault in which an assailant aims to knock out an unsuspecting victim with one punch. There have been similar incidents dating as far back as 1992.

The FBI detailed the disturbing evidence, which included videos of Conrad Barrett making racial slurs, planning the attack and delivering a "knockout punch" to the man's jaw.

According to the FBI, Barrett had been working up the "courage" to play the knockout game for weeks. In a November 24 video, Barrett purportedly says that "the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?" Moments before punching the elderly man, Barrett says on video that he would not hit "defenseless people."

In a video Barrett is believed to have recorded himself, he punches the man with such force that the man immediately falls to the ground. Barrett then laughs and says "knockout" before running to his vehicle. The blow fractured the victim's jaw and caused him to be hospitalized for several days.

"It is unimaginable in this day and age that one could be drawn to violently attack another based on the color of their skin," FBI agent Stephen L. Morris said in a statement. "We remind all citizens we are protected under the law from such racially motivated attacks and encourage everyone to report such crimes to the FBI."

Houston criminal defense attorney George Parnham is representing Barrett. Parnham did not not immediately respond to CultureMap's request for comment, but he told CBS News that Barrett is bipolar and has been prescribed heavy medication. Parnham's previous high-profile clients with mental illnesses include Andrea Yates and Clara Harris.

Barrett worked as a landman at Quantum Resources Management in Houston. An acquaintance who worked in the same building as Barrett described him as an average guy who enjoyed hunting and fishing. "He seemed perfectly normal," the acquaintance said, adding that Barrett was married and had recently purchased his first home.

Others who grew up with Barrett in Katy said he was a troublemaker who loved paint ball and the video game Counterstrike. Barrett's former classmates at Katy High School expressed disgust for the crime on social media.

"He was always getting into trouble," one comment read. Another former classmate who wished to remain anonymous said he was "appalled but hardly surprised" by the accusations against Barrett. (Editor's note: the author also attended high school with the defendant.)

If convicted of a hate crime, Barrett faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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closing the gaps

Texas no longer leads U.S. for racial progress, new report says

The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Dallas

The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center/Facebook

WalletHub's report is released annually ahead of MLK Day.

Texas has been overtaken as the No. 1 state that has made the most racial progress, according to a new study.

The Lone Star State led the nation in 2025, but now ranks in third place behind Georgia (No. 1) and Mississippi (No. 2). It also ranked No. 5 nationally in the list of states with the most racial integration.

WalletHub's "States That Have Made the Most Racial Progress" study is released annually ahead of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The report compares all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 22 relevant metrics divided into two main rankings: racial integration (which the study defines as "the current integration levels of white people and Black people") and racial progress (defined as "the levels of racial progress achieved over time").

The report's author clarifies that the study focuses only on the racial integration between Black people and white people "in light of racial tensions in recent years that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement."

"We released this report ahead of the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who played a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement to end segregation and discrimination against Black people," the report says.

The study further divided each ranking into four main categories measuring the gaps between white people and Black people over time; spanning employment and wealth, education, social and civic engagement, and health. Texas performed the best in education and health, ranking No. 4 nationally in both categories, and it ranked in sixth place for its social and civic engagement. The state ranked 16th in the category for employment and wealth.

According to WalletHub, Texas has "done a lot" to reduce gaps in health outcomes for white and Black residents, such as reducing gaps in health insurance coverage, and reducing the share of Black Texans suffering from "poor health" and diabetes. It also notes that Texas "made the second-most progress when it comes to obesity," but it did not acknowledge the racial bias in body mass index (BMI) that has been increasingly flagged in recent years.

The report further praises Texas for reducing the gap in business ownership between white and Black Texans, and for its improvement in reducing discrimination in the parole system. WalletHub does not offer data behind the parole claim.

"It’s encouraging to look at the data and see that some states have made significant strides toward racial equality over the past few decades," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo regarding the overall report. "This change demonstrates that state-level policies and residents’ attitudes regarding equality have grown considerably better."

Though racial disparity gaps are closing between white and Black people, racial profiling and discrimination is still a major issue affecting Black people and other people of color across the country.

In 2023, a senate bill banned public Texas universities from having diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and programs, prompting warnings of discrimination against Black, Hispanic, and other marginalized students, including those with disabilities.

The top 10 states with the most racial progress in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Georgia
No. 2 – Mississippi
No. 3 – Texas
No. 4 – North Carolina
No. 5 – Maryland
No. 6 – Florida
No. 7 – New Jersey
No. 8 – Massachusetts
No. 9 – Louisiana
No. 10 – New Mexico

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