BIMAGE, UT ATHLETES REQUEST UNIVERSITY CHANGE SCHOOL SONG, RENAME BUILDINGS
Former Brenham Cub football standout Marqez Bimage is among the athletes at the University of Texas calling for changes to increase racial inclusivity on campus.
Bimage posted a letter Friday afternoon to Twitter, requesting on behalf of UT’s student athlete body and Longhorn football team that the university take actions to address racial injustice. Those include the renaming of buildings such as the Robert Lee Moore Hall and James Hogg Auditorium, the creation of modules for incoming freshmen to discuss the history of racism on campus, and the replacing of the school song, “The Eyes of Texas”, which was written in 1903 and has connections to minstrel shows.
The letter said in part, “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.” The letter was captioned with the university’s motto: “What starts here changes the world. #WeAreOne.”
Athletes are also calling for the university’s athletic department to donate 0.5 percent of its annual earnings to black organizations and the Black Lives Matter movement. They also ask for some part of Royal-Memorial Stadium to be renamed after Julius Whittier, the university’s first black football player.
The letter said athletes wish to have these issues addressed or implemented before the fall semester. In addition, they will continue to participate in all required team activities, but until the university makes a commitment, they will not participate in recruiting or donor events.
Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said in a tweet responding to the list of requests that he is “willing to have meaningful conversations regarding any concerns our student-athletes have”.
R.I.P. Rhogena Nicholas & Dennis Tuttle, also killed in the sanctuary of their own home in Houston. Victims, along with their dog, of a no-knock raid set up by a dirty cop who may have been preying on the community for years. The races are switched in this instance, but the tragic outcome is the same. I pray we can come together as Americans for judicious & well-thought out police reforms, not only to protect innocent citizens but also to protect the vast majority of heroic, honorable officers who put their lives on the line every hour they are on duty to safeguard us. Please, let us work together. The vast majority of Americans want to live their lives in peace, being neither crime victims nor targeted unwarrantedly.
Why doesn’t anyone speak up and realize. Blacks are not getting shot because they are stopped and questioned, but are shot for resisting arrest and trying to shoot officers…..taser or gun !!
Whites, Hispanics, Asians……they understand who has the authority so they comply with the officers request…..BLACKS don’t….that has a lot to do with whats happening..
Have tried several times to post comments simular to this…..unfortunately they are not accepted…..why? Hopefully this is accepted so I can get some feedback on my thoughts here….
Breoanna taylor was sleeping
George floyd was unarmed
Freddy grey was unarmed
I can go on
Please do go on and explain why what happened to them happened.
Statement from Mr.Dukey is correct. Other races have Respect & they want to live a peaceful life. SH your words are not complete & not understood by what you’re saying…explain what you want to convey here. Destroying statues & setting fire to businesses does not bring peace. The defacing of stone & brass/copper destroys patina & often can’t restore the beauty. What a heartbreaker to drive by the SulRoss statue on TAMU campus.Why WHY, what do these protesters gain from this ???? Go back & read the comment from COMMON SENSE last week that shows he/she did the homework before commenting. Every word explains this rioting, burning, hate. Its not the white , Hispanic or Asian races stating this. Take a hard look at who’s the cause.
They may have been unharmed, but did they comply to what the police told them to do? When you resist and put up a fight you have to expect consequences!
Dukey, you are EXACTLY right!!!!
Here’s some feedback, George Floyd was unarmed (and buying groceries), Breonna Taylor was sleeping, Rayshard Brooks was unarmed. Your thoughts show the systemic racism you were obviously taught. It’s time to grow up buddy and re-educate yourself.
He may have been buying groceries, but wasn’t he trying to use counterfeit money? Mmm that May have been the problem. Then he resisted the police? Mmm.
And CLEARLY you can’t explain what happened leading up to these tragedies.
I’m sorry to tell you but Mr. Brooks was not unarmed. He had a taser, which has been considered a deadly weapon in other cases, which he took away from the officer. Those that died, did they deserve to die? Not my place to call it.
Maybe you should reeducate yourself… George Floyd was a known criminal and had numerous drugs in his system in his autopsy report! Buying groceries yeah with a fake $20 bill.What about the kid in Houston that was just beaten and stomped by four blacks while he actually still had his groceries in his hands!
This is the dumbest comment I’ve ever have seen in my life!! Clearly you are blind to what is going on and have been going on since forever! It’s people like you that are the problem I the world now so instead of trying to educate your clueless and nutshell life I’ll just pray for you
People of every race resist arrest and people of every race sometimes die because of it. Instances of unarmed people being killed by cops while posing no threat are rare, but do happen. People who are not posing a threat should never be killed by the cops, but for whatever reason, it does happen. Those instances are rare but they do happen to people of all colors, the media only chooses to sensationalize the ones that will cause the most outrage and division. They have an agenda of chaos because chaos sells more news.
Per Mr. Thomas Sowell: Racism is not dead, but it is on life support — kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as “racists.”
It’s election year and many people are just being hustled by … well, politicians and race hustlers!
Read history. Learn it and learn from it, but don’t waste time attempting to change it or fix it. Why? … You CAN’T!! It is history, after all. It’s not all good nor is it all bad – it’s a mixed bag and always will be.
Me,
Thank you for your comments. Well said and much respect to you.
Before the George Floyd tragedy, noone wanted to change a school song or move a statue…now after the tradegy, there should be a new song, statues taken down etc….If it wasn’t an issue then why now???? Because if something affects me negatively, address it then….these things have been around longer than most of us have been alive….so why is it now an issue? It WILL NEVER change the way people think or act….
It is not “just now an issue”! It has been an issue for quite sometime. It’s just now caught your attention because of the huge protest. It’s sad that it took all this to get me seeing what has been going on. It may not change the way you feel and act but it has changed the way I do.
Those statues were put up long after the civil war had end as away to imidated Black people. Blacks could not vote in this state unless they could pass poll tax test. It took LBJ along with Congress to pass voting and civil acts, that was less than 70 years ago. So don’t act like this county, state, or country does not have a problem with race.
Please stop the spin.
Starters, if we remove confederate monuments we’ll need to remove ones honoring African Americans who fought during the era too. You want the south erased? You Erase all of it.
Oh and one of the biggest reminders is in Arlington: The Appamatox house.
It’s a reminder Lee lived there… and how the North ILLEGALLY passed taxes to seize it.
A tiny detail about LBJ: he was a well know SEVERE RACIST.
His goal in creating the Great Society welfare state was to keep AA, whom he used the racist epithets, voting Democrats.
In fact, a higher percentage of DEMOCRATS voted against the civil rights act.
I postulate based on LBJ’s history regarding race had JFK not been do popular and pushing for it he’d vetoed it.
I agree there is a problem, but spouting misinformation doesn’t help.
America is racist! Your point is ???
America has a violent history! It continues even to this day. The problem is not with the concept of democracy. It is with those who have self appointed themselves as the guardians and protectors of democracy. Their version and definition of democracy evidently is not working too well for the average American. Are we winning yet?
Personally, remove all monuments! I am not one of those misguided individuals that is hell bent on preserving history that is better left forgotten. The confederacy lost the Civil War. They were on the wrong side of history. Why celebrate losers! Time to move on.
Brenham has alot of undercover racist people.
After reading these comments I am ashamed to live in this community. Before all this I didn’t see the hate, the racism, the abusive policing, but this has opened my eyes. As I white man I now get it. I now see what blacks deal with daily. The ignorance in this town is amazing. If you still don’t see a problem with this country and how people are treated then you are a part of the problem and there’s no help for you. The confederate statues were put in place to intimidate African Americans politically and isolate them from the mainstream of public life. Who do you think you are as a white person to tell them how they should feel about this. It’s a part of history that should be just that…history. Sad sad world we live in with all you narrow minded racist people. Good job University of Texas!
This is a shaming attempt. It’s common these days, you should look into the type of people that use it and when. The author declares their enlightened and woke virtue, signaling to all they renounce their old ignorance. Because they and the rest of the woke only know what hate, ignorance, ‘the problem” truly are. They understand and know all black people. Just as well as they know that it was white people that wrote the comments he or she disagrees with. “No help for us either”, as in
– no help coming. Interesting threat.
Folks, just as famous politician recently declared that you’re not black if you don’t vote democrat, you might be seeing comments from a projecting racist.
History exists not to be changed, but to be learned from.
You can learn from,history. So why not take diwn the stairs and just teach history, but the truth. You do not see statues 9f Hitler in Germany or Israel just so that Jews will remember history. In fact the intelligent people just don’t even talk about Hitler cause the pain he caused is just inhumane. And as far as armed people showing up for a protest just shows how racist they are . why not just show up? The other side had no fire arms.
2 Me!
You either need to get on the fence or jump off! The way you stated your comment is contradicting and if your ashamed to live in the town hurry up and pack your bags for higher ground because this problem isn’t going away anytime soon! We are only here 4 a little while…
Dear Me, you say it should be part of history, so are you saying that all statues,school songs,street names etc etc should NOW be changed? That’s ridiculous! If it’s part of history than it should still be taught as that! History!
While we’re contemplating these absurdly ridiculous requests, could the name Bevo be found to be offensive to anyone? Or if not, could it just be spray painted on his sides in graffiti fashion, for a more ethnic appearance?
Actually, it might be. During WWII, there was a company in Wuppertal Germany named BeVo. They made insignia for the Wehrmacht. How could these “student athletes” have missed this in all their outrage? Will they demand a name change for the animal, or will they demand blood sacrifice and a BBQ be made from the animal?
The comments posted seem to have a fairly unified stance, and I applaud that. The sad fact of statues being removed and names being changed, and the like, is that those who want / demand those things, probably never read any government documents, or even history while in school.
The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in designated areas of the Confederacy; it did not free slaves in Union or Union- controlled states. Most generals and ranking officers in the Confederate Army had attended and graduated from the United States Military Academy, and had served in the United States Army prior to resigning in the spring of 1861. Robert E Lee had served in the United States Army for over 30 years. It follows that if statues of Confederate figureheads are to be removed because they are associated with slave-holding, then the Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monument need to be demolished as the two “founding fathers” they honor also owned slaves. Even some Union generals had owned land and slaves prior to the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant among them. To go even farther, should the Israelis ask for compensation from Egypt and the modern-day countries that descended from Babylon and Assyria for the years they were enslaved, or should God be blamed for allowing the Israelites to be enslaved in the first place?
Facetiousness aside, there is no easy, quick, or complete solution to the problems now facing us that will satisfy all people. However, nothing will be solved by violence, demonstrations that damage private as well as government properties, and far-fetched ultimatums for which there is no educated basis (and certainly not from a group of twenty-somethings who have not even graduated from college).
You are correct.
The sad part is most people do not know the histroy of most things.
They just want to jump on the band wagon of what the race baiters and politicians ,who want to keep power, tell them to.
America and Americans are a great nation and people.
It will never be perfect, but it is continually getting better for all people of all colors and economic backgrounds.
If you work hard, stay out of trouble, and be a decent and good person, you can achieve almost anything in this country, regardless of the way you look.
Content of character, not color of skin.
Whenever the HUMAN RACE as a whole comes together, the world will change. EVERYONE matters. BUT everyone wants to be in control. ONLY God controls.
Scholarships are part of a racist merit system and must be canceled. Sports teams in general are slave plantations. Look at how many blacks are on the field compared to the white people. Are we saying blacks are more athletic than whites, if so, what about other attributes such as intelligence, forethought and creativity? The few white people on the field are practically the new indentured servants; oppressed proles. Say no to organizational sports. Say yes to individual sports that have no affiliation with schools or clubs?
Multiple sides to every coin of change. Like so many that want big change, they assume alot, forget alot. They assume the bath water is the only thing in the tub and that once you get rid of the bath water because you think its cold, others will still prefer to take a bath instead of a shower. Now no one takes a bath anymore. Hubris, arrogance, envy, its all we see anymore. Except the cowardice that seems to inevitably bow to this most awful will.
Whenever the HUMAN RACE as a whole comes together, the world will change. EVERYONE matters. Get past the color. AND changing a name doesn’t erase the history. It is there and ALWAYS will be.
Then why not change the names since it will not change history? Simple solution. Compassionate compromise!
Ppl are so annoying worried about the stupidest things. Who cares!!! Oh well it is what it is. Get over it.
Please listen to a few speeches and conversations from Senator Scott from South Carolina. He is such an inspiration during these ridiculous times. I heard only 20 minutes of his news but this morning. You must hear him before you make a rash irreversible decision. When you hear this man speak, this man is “putting common sense into words.” People who have this gift to “communicate with humility” is a gift to us all, “only if we all stop, listen, and think, and process with humility in return.” My simple response is, “respect prayer, respect your brain, do your research, respect or military, veterans, law enforcement, respect those that have given you our land of liberty, freedom, opportunity.”
Rename the auditorium After Vladimir I Lenin, the hall after Che Guevara, and the football stadium after Karl Marx. Change the song to the Internationale! Let the communist movement go forth! It will be utopia in the People’s Democratic Republic of Austin!
Wake up people! This is where this is headed- commits revolt. He’ll, a blind man with a seeing eye dog can see it clearly. All this tearing down of statues and renaming of institutions is a page out of the Bolshevik revolution. It’s a start. You can count on the Gulags coming too.
To paraphrase H.L. Mencken, give to them good and hard. Don’t buy their merchandise, watch them on TV and sure as hell don’t go to their games. Oh, and maybe think long and hard about sending your kid and a pile of money to get indoctrinated.
In my opinion. If your not happy with your free scholarship that “yes” you earned then let some other kid enjoy the great fullness of a free education and quit complaining just because everyone else is following the sheep and go to an all black school where you won’t have any issues or maybe you’ll really see who’s getting the free privileges you have!
Just my thoughts but I’m sure I’m right along with the many that don’t say what’s on their mind and just shake your heads!!!
This is just ridiculous and getting out of hand and like the comment said “why not get rid of the flag!” How about just put a black strip on it… Come on folks this is America!!!
come on a school song is racist give me a break I guess if you tried hard enough you could make anything racist next I guess will be changing the name of the directions because someone will find the word south or southern as racist because there was southern plantations that used slaves
Remember the name Texas itself then is racist since it is derived from the word Tejas which one could say it portrays racial injustice against the Hasinai Native American tribe which gave us the word as well as racial injustice against Mexican Americans due to Texas winning its independence from Mexico. So is he saying that their lives do not matter? I don’t see anywhere where Marqez has offered to relinquish his scholarship from such a racist institution though.
Why dont we get rid of the American flag too because it had slaves under that flag until the civil war . You see this is a never ending situation. It’s worse than what ISIS wants.
This is ridiculous! All of this is part of history. Get over it! I hope they don’t change anything!
You are correct! It is all a part of history … and history is still being made! The names will be changed and the symbols of a losing confederacy will come down. It is called survival and the democratic process where the majority rules! Look at it this way: the South lost the Civil War! So the confederacy celebrates losers who were on the wrong side of history. Okay by me.
I guess it is a wonderful day dream to think “what if” the South had won? They did not! So will of God is clear. All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain …. You get the idea?
Cornelius… It is called Orwellian “1984” history.
You are trying to rewrite history as though southerners all had slaves (false), fought for slavery (inaccurate; states rights primary reason due to excessive northern tariffs), and the North wasn’t racist (untrue: actually many examples show they were worse actually, including stealing freedmens’ papers to sell back into slavery..).
If Bimage actually studied his university he’d know it was built and run by racists. IF he walked away from his scholarships there I’d give him some props his voice is sincere.
Right now, it’s bluster to me.
Again, we are witnessing the last of a dying breed. The symbols of confederacy will come down. They are going to be removed in this generation or the next; but, make no mistake the names are going to change. It is called change for the sake of survival. These confederate symbols may have some meaning to your generation (I do not understand why) but to young people all over this turbulent nation they hold little value. Perhaps your kind is comfortable with trying to hold on to the past. Personally I do not care. But I am going to enjoy watching this younger generation set the stage for a brand new day! BTW, the nation is run by racists! Anything else new? And I pray that Bimage is smart enough to stay and utilize his scholarship and get a good liberal education while DEMANDING change from the institution providing it. He does not need to do anything to gain your approval. He does not need it.
Thank you best comment ever.
Yo cant erase history , The things that happened during that time in history was awful, and should not be forgotten, But that was a long time ago, and the people that are alive today had nothing to do with what happened. If we erase history today, We are bound to repeat it tomorrow. Prayers that this country can heal from recent events ( that should not have happened) I believe if we all turned off the 24 hour news programs and went outside to talk to people we would see that most of us really all have the same goals , To be happy, Healthy and have Peace.
cwc I have to agree with you history is the past and people need to learn from the mistakes made in the past and correct them you can’t change the past you can only change the future I hope this state doesn’t give in to mob rule I am a native texan and very proud of my state it’s past and hopefully it’s future