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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population report

Booming Dallas suburb was the fastest-growing city in the U.S. in 2024

City of Dallas - City Hall/Facebook

Dallas' population has grown to nealry 1.33 million residents.

The Dallas suburb of Princeton grew faster than any other city in the United States in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The new population report said Princeton's population has more than doubled in the last five years. The city saw a dramatic growth rate of 30.6 percent from July 2023 to July 2024, now boasting a population of just over 37,000 residents. The suburb is located 42 miles northeast from downtown Dallas.

The report also revealed Dallas retained its No. 9 spot on the list of the 15 most populous cities in the U.S. Dallas gained more than 23,000 residents during the one-year period, bringing the city's population to 1,326,087 people in 2024.

Elsewhere across North Texas, Fort Worth surpassed 1 million residents and eclipsed Austin as the 11th largest city in the nation. Fort Worth had the fifth-highest numeric increase in population last year, 23,442 residents, to bring the city's total population to 1,008,106 residents.

Houston and San Antonio were the only Texas cities to have higher numerical growth rates than Fort Worth. Houston gained 43,217 residents – the second-highest increase nationwide – while San Antonio ranked No. 4 in growth with an additional 23,945 residents.

Austin has yet to surpass the 1 million population threshold and has a population of 993,588 residents, the report says. The city now ranks 13th on the list of most populous U.S. cities after ranking 11th in 2024.

Sandwiched between No. 11-Fort Worth and No. 13-Austin is San Jose, California, whose population of 997,368 puts it in the 12-largest spot.

Fastest growing U.S. cities
Six additional Texas cities made the list of fastest-growing U.S. cities, with several in the DFW Metroplex:

Fulshear, near Houston (No. 2) with 26.7 percent growth (54,629 total population)
Celina (No. 4) with 18.2 percent growth (51,661 total population)
Anna (No. 5) with 14.6 percent growth (31,986 total population)
Fate (No. 8) with 11.4 percent growth (27,467 total population)
Melissa (No. 11) with 10 percent growth (26,194 total population)
Hutto, near Austin (No. 13) with 9.4 percent growth (42,661 total population)

The Austin suburb of Georgetown's growth has continued to slow since 2023, and it no longer appears in the list of fastest-growing cities. However, it did surpass 100,000 residents in 2024.

San Angelo, a small city in West Texas, also surpassed the 100,000-population threshold.

Most populous U.S. cities in 2024
New York City maintained its stronghold as the biggest in America in 2024, boasting a population of nearly 8.5 million residents. Los Angeles and Chicago also retained second and third place, with respective populations of nearly 3.88 million and more than 2.7 million residents.

"Cities in the Northeast that had experienced population declines in 2023 are now experiencing significant population growth, on average," said Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. "In fact, cities of all sizes, in all regions, showed faster growth and larger gains than in 2023, except for small cities in the South, whose average population growth rate remained the same."

The 15 populous U.S. cities as of July 1, 2024 were:

No. 1 – New York, New York (8.48 million)
No. 2 – Los Angeles, California (3.88 million)
No. 3 – Chicago, Illinois (2.72 million)
No. 4 – Houston, Texas (2.39 million)
No. 5 – Phoenix, Arizona (1.67 million)
No. 6 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1.57 million)
No. 7 – San Antonio, Texas (1.53 million)
No. 8 – San Diego, California (1.4 million)
No. 9 – Dallas, Texas (1.33 million)
No. 10 – Jacksonville, Florida (1 million)
No. 11 – Fort Worth, Texas (1 million)
No. 12 – San Jose, California (997,368)
No. 13 – Austin, Texas (993,588)
No. 14 – Charlotte, North Carolina (943,476)
No. 15 – Columbus, Ohio (933,263)

dallas dallas suburb dfw metroplex fastest growing cities population growth princeton us census bureau

Texans Behaving Very Badly

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

population report

Booming Dallas suburb was the fastest-growing city in the U.S. in 2024

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