Longhorns football player calls for school to eliminate ‘Eyes of Texas’ song, rename buildings to aid racial inclusivity

[thismybgolname]

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A University of Texas Longhorns player has called on the school to make several changes toward racial inclusivity and anti-racism on campus.

In a letter posted to Twitter, Marqez Bimage says:

“The recent events across the country regarding racial injustice have brought to light the systemic racism that has always been prevalent in our country as well as the racism that has historically plagued our campus.”

Bimage says that on behalf of the UT student athlete body/Longhorns, they are requesting to have several issues addressed or implemented before the fall semester begins.

Requested changes include:

• Getting rid of ‘The Eyes of Texas” and replace it with a new song
• Renaming of several buildings, including Robert Lee Moore Hall, Painter Hall, Littlefield Hall and James Hogg Auditorium
• Removal of the James Hogg statue
• More diverse statues on campus designed by people of color
• Modules for incoming freshmen to discuss the history of racism on campus
• Outreach program for inner cities, like Dallas and Houston

The letter also calls for UT Athletics to make several changes, including:

• More diversity in the athletic Hall of Fame, including a permanent black athletic history exhibit
• Athletics donating .5% of annual earnings to black organizations and Black Lives Matter movements
• Renaming of some part of the stadium after Julius Whittier, the first black football player at UT

Other Longhorns players and UT athletes also expressed their support by tweeting out the same letter on their timelines. Athletes include Josh Thompson, MiKenna Robinson Brennan Eagles.

The call comes after widespread national movement and protests toward racial equality in general and within law enforcement following the death of George Floyd.

“The Eyes of Texas” school spirit song
The University’s school spirit song was written in 1903 and was debated by the UT Student Government as recently as 2018.

An April 2018 article for the school’s publication “The Daily Texan” titled “The Eyes of Texas: Racist tradition or cornerstone of school spirit?” the Vice Provost for Diversity Edmund T. Gordon said:

“The University of Texas, at least originally, had very clear minstrel connections. “The Eyes of Texas” was first sung and played at a minstrel show which featured performers in blackface.”

Gordon explained that the song was writen during a period of lynchings and pervasive anti-black sentiment — in addition to Jim Crow laws — and questioned whether the song could be about “minstrelsy” and school pride at the same time.

In an October 2018 article in “The Daily Texan,” titled “UT must educate new students on racism of ‘The Eyes of Texas,“ author Maggie Lazaroski explains that the author of the song, John Sinclair, was a member of the Varsity Minstrel Show, a performance group that “perpetuated the notion that African-Americans were lesser than whites.”

Lazaroski also posits that UT should be more transparent to incoming students about the songs origins, giving them the choice whether or not they want to participate in the tradition.

African-American UT senior Joshua Ellis told the Dallas Morning News in February 2019 that after learning about the song’s racist origins, he refused to sing it.

“After I took Dr. Gordon’s class during my freshman year, I immediately stopped singing the song. At football games, I sit down during the song and don’t even acknowledge it.”

Fuck UT by the way.

 

[thismybgolname]

bump

 

[YoungSinister]

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A University of Texas Longhorns player has called on the school to make several changes toward racial inclusivity and anti-racism on campus.

In a letter posted to Twitter, Marqez Bimage says:


Bimage says that on behalf of the UT student athlete body/Longhorns, they are requesting to have several issues addressed or implemented before the fall semester begins.

Requested changes include:

• Getting rid of ‘The Eyes of Texas” and replace it with a new song
• Renaming of several buildings, including Robert Lee Moore Hall, Painter Hall, Littlefield Hall and James Hogg Auditorium
• Removal of the James Hogg statue
• More diverse statues on campus designed by people of color
• Modules for incoming freshmen to discuss the history of racism on campus
• Outreach program for inner cities, like Dallas and Houston

The letter also calls for UT Athletics to make several changes, including:

• More diversity in the athletic Hall of Fame, including a permanent black athletic history exhibit
• Athletics donating .5% of annual earnings to black organizations and Black Lives Matter movements
• Renaming of some part of the stadium after Julius Whittier, the first black football player at UT

Other Longhorns players and UT athletes also expressed their support by tweeting out the same letter on their timelines. Athletes include Josh Thompson, MiKenna Robinson Brennan Eagles.

The call comes after widespread national movement and protests toward racial equality in general and within law enforcement following the death of George Floyd.

“The Eyes of Texas” school spirit song
The University’s school spirit song was written in 1903 and was debated by the UT Student Government as recently as 2018.

An April 2018 article for the school’s publication “The Daily Texan” titled “The Eyes of Texas: Racist tradition or cornerstone of school spirit?” the Vice Provost for Diversity Edmund T. Gordon said:


Gordon explained that the song was writen during a period of lynchings and pervasive anti-black sentiment — in addition to Jim Crow laws — and questioned whether the song could be about “minstrelsy” and school pride at the same time.

In an October 2018 article in “The Daily Texan,” titled “UT must educate new students on racism of ‘The Eyes of Texas,“ author Maggie Lazaroski explains that the author of the song, John Sinclair, was a member of the Varsity Minstrel Show, a performance group that “perpetuated the notion that African-Americans were lesser than whites.”

Lazaroski also posits that UT should be more transparent to incoming students about the songs origins, giving them the choice whether or not they want to participate in the tradition.

African-American UT senior Joshua Ellis told the Dallas Morning News in February 2019 that after learning about the song’s racist origins, he refused to sing it.







Fuck UT by the way.

I guess you don’t remember those OU students talking about “hang a ****** from a tree”

 

[spider705]

Unless he talking about leaving UT and taking his talents to an HBCU along with a dozen other 4 and 5 star recruits this is pretty fuckin pointless

 

[thismybgolname]

I guess you don’t remember those OU students talking about “hang a ****** from a tree”

Stoops Attributes Sooners' Success To Solidarity Shown During SAE

The University of Oklahoma takes on Clemson University in the Orange Bowl Thursday evening. The rematch of the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl is the first of…

www.kgou.org

I remember that vividly but I can't say anything about UT without throwing the horns down.

 

[YoungSinister]

Unless he talking about leaving UT and taking his talents to an HBCU along with a dozen other 4 and 5 star recruits this is pretty fuckin pointless

facts
They aren’t about to change their identity for anyone. Much less a Black football player who can easily be replaced
These kids don’t do their due diligence when picking the schools then end up shocked at the history and attitude of the school
These parents are to blame

Stoops Attributes Sooners' Success To Solidarity Shown During SAE

The University of Oklahoma takes on Clemson University in the Orange Bowl Thursday evening. The rematch of the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl is the first of…

www.kgou.org

I remember that vividly but I can't say anything about UT without throwing the horns down.

Lmao
I hear you

 

[kdogg3270]

all these Div I schools probably have a racist backgound.

 

[playahaitian]

Committee: 'Eyes of Texas' song has 'no racist intent,' but school must be 'accountable'




Mar 9, 2021

A University of Texas committee formed in November to investigate the history of "The Eyes of Texas" released a 58-page report Tuesday that says the school song was not written with racist intent but acknowledges that its first public performance was likely by performers in blackface during a minstrel show.

The song, which was written in 1903, is traditionally played at sporting events, including before and after Texas Longhorns football games. In recent years, as history of the song's origins became more well known, it has become a controversial issue for the university, dividing the community.
"These historical facts add complexity and richness to the story of a song that debuted in a racist setting, exceedingly common for the time, but, as the preponderance of research showed, had no racist intent," the report states in its executive summary. "'The Eyes of Texas' should not only unite us, but hold all of us accountable to our institution's core values."


The report recommended that students not be required to sing the song.

During an interview on the Longhorn Network on Tuesday morning, Texas president Jay Hartzell said he hoped the committee's findings provide a thorough understanding of the history of the song for the first time.

"The hope is that everybody will use this report as an opportunity to come forward with the same fact base and be able to have more conversations, certainly including with our student-athletes," Hartzell said.

Hartzell was asked if the song had racist undertones.

"For me, the song itself doesn't," Hartzell said. "But it certainly was present at different times where those undertones existed. You go back to thinking about its first performance in 1903 at a minstrel show. I mean, you cannot deny that that performance has the racial undertones, and overtones, if you will. Hateful things. But on the other hand, if you look at the way, to me, the song was composed, written and designed. ... It was not designed for that."

Last June, many Texas athletes shared a group statement through social media calling for changes to make the campus more inclusive, including replacing "The Eyes of Texas," in large part due to its origin, and a requirement that athletes no longer be required to sing it. Early in the football season, players refused to stay on the field for the song, before changing course in October after athletic director Chris Del Conte met with the team and said he hoped the Longhorns to stand together to honor the fans.

Hartzell addressed some of the attacks that players faced on social media over their stance.

"I really feel for [them for] some of the vitriol they've faced and suffered from," Hartzell said. "I think it's unfair and they were doing what they should do. They used their voice. We're in a better place now than we were before because of them. ... I wish I could protect everybody from hearing things that are hateful, but the best I can, we can denounce it and come to show them love."

Hartzell was asked what the expectations were for athletes going forward.

"My hope is that we'll get to a point where people feel good about staying on the field and honoring each other, whether it's fans in the stands honoring the student-athletes, student-athletes honoring support from the fans," Hartzell said. "But nobody's going to be required or mandated to stay on the field. Or certainly to sing the song."

The committee was chaired by Richard Reddick, professor and associate dean for equity, community engagement and outreach in the College of Education at Texas, and featured 24 members, including students, alumni such as former Texas football star Quan Cosby, current and former members of the Longhorn Band, historians, administrators and professors.

Reddick, who also appeared on the Longhorn Network, said the hardest part of the research was that there won't be any one final resolution.
"There's no smoking gun," Reddick said. "There's nothing that either vindicates or implicates 'The Eyes of Texas.' It is an artifact of the university. It is a part of our history, the history of The University of Texas, Texas, the South, the postbellum Jim Crow South. So all those things are in there."
Key findings of the report include:

• Researchers said they could find no direct link between the signature line "the eyes of Texas are upon you" and anything Robert E. Lee would say to his students at Washington and Lee University, where he was president after the Civil War. The panel determined there is a "very low likelihood" the line originated with Lee.

• The song borrows the melody of "I've Been Working on the Railroad," a song with racist lyrics, most likely because it was already well known and easy to sing.

• Performances at campus minstrel shows with actors in blackface, which continued into the 1960s, are a "painful reality," but the song did not appear to have been composed as a minstrel tune.

• The panel's 40 recommendations include teaching the song's history at student orientation events and allowing new alternative versions composed and/or performed by Black musicians.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Texas: Controversial song has 'no racist intent'

The Eyes of Texas History Committee released its report and found that although the song has historical issues, the school should keep it.

www.espn.com

 

[djpolo]

Alumni wasn't having that shit. Fuck UT Boomer Sooner!

 

[thismybgolname]

Peckawoods

 

[powmia]

Let's see how many players transfer or switch commitments because of this. My guess is NONE.