Many white residents of Pigtown are out-migrants or descendants of out-migrants from Appalachia, particularly West Virginia and Western Maryland. Poor white Appalachian residents of Pigtown report discrimination from the police on the basis of class. Some poor white residents of Pigtown allege that while poor black people in Pigtown and the nearby neighborhood of Sandtown experience more discrimination due to the combination of racism and classism, poor whites nonetheless experience targeting and harassment from the police. According to David Simon, a police reporter from the "Baltimore Sun", a nickname for Pigtown among police officers is "Billyland", derived from the term hillbilly, a derogatory term for poor white Appalachians.