Steve Sarkisian has just
recently been named the new head football coach at the University of Texas. He
signed a 6-year contract starting at $5.2 million dollars and escalating by
$200,000 each year for a total of $34.2 million. In his first interview, he was
asked about what will happen with the Texas fight song "The Eyes of
Texas," and his answer was very telling.
But, in case you are not
aware, last year as the country was starting some sort of racial reckoning,
athletes, and others, at Texas were doing the same. They were seeking to have
buildings renamed after people who weren't racists and/or slaved holders. They also
pointed out the racist background of the "Eyes of Texas," including
that it came from minstrel shows with white students dressed in blackface to
sing it.
And so many on the
football team, who had the highest profile, objected to this history and the
fact that they were forced to sing it after each home game. This past season
many on the team refused to stay and sing it, and there were also many
musicians in the band who said they would not play it. The administration’s
answer was to play it over the loudspeakers, without the band present, and
force the football team to stay out.
Now the answer given by
the administration, think white men, was that the boosters, think rich white men, didn't have a
problem with it and wanted it to continue. And so it was
going to continue, whether the athletes liked it or not. In other words, rich
white men were telling unpaid black men what to do, and that they had no say
and should just be happy they get to play for Texas. Plus the school had put up
a statue of the first black letterman for the university, so shouldn't that be
enough? (And his name is Julius Whittier, and he earned that letter in 1970.
Not 1950 or even 1960, but 1970!)
Now Sarkisian could have
done a lot of things. The smartest probably would have been to say that he
knows there are lots of feelings around the issue, and he was going to talk
with his players, and the administration, before he said anything. Instead, he
said the boosters, the rich white men paying his salary, wanted it played, and
so he, a rich white man, was going to tell his players, those unpaid, largely
black athletes, that he doesn't care about them or their feelings about a song
with racist connotations and history because they have no power and they were
going to "proudly" sing it.
I really hope that the
athletes and the band and other students continue to tell the administration
and the boosters that just because you are rich and white doesn't mean you get
to do what you want anymore. That's the way the world has worked, but that time
is coming to an end, and it's all of these little battles, and the big ones,
that will make a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment