The Texas Tribune says tensions of a plaque with the lyrics to “The Eyes of Texas” in the University of Texas at Austin’s Admissions Welcome Center have been boiling for a year, but it’s making news now because 1) students who give tours of the campus are refusing to work, and 2) a man with a gun showed up in a student-run Zoom meeting.
Tensions are boiling at UT-Austin over "The Eyes of Texas."
Students are refusing to work. A man with a gun crashed a virtual event. Nearly 180 faculty have signed a new petition calling for the song’s removal. https://t.co/c3L4kYlhFa
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 4, 2021
The dustup over the plaque is the latest example of UT-Austin officials standing by “The Eyes” over pleas that the university distance itself from the alma mater song because it originated at a minstrel show where students likely wore Blackface.
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“I think this is the tip of the iceberg honestly,” [senior Kendall] Walker said. “This is the beginning of it and people resisting that decision and not accepting a committee of people deem[ing] the song isn’t racist. There’s a whole generation of students and minority students that are equally and more mad than we are and don’t want to enter a space that predetermined their opinions don’t matter.”
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Members of the Texas Black Legislative Caucus and state NAACP chapters have also condemned the song. After UT-Austin released its report in early March, Black student leaders submitted a new list of demands for more scholarships, affordable student housing and increased wages for student workers to improve the experience of Black students on campus.
Also, nearly 180 faculty members have signed a petition saying they won’t attend commencement or any other events where the song will be played.
@bdiebold12 pic.twitter.com/Q4k6ffczZM
— DW (@doug_e_freshhh) May 5, 2021
— Old Virgil (@virgilpoteet) May 4, 2021
No one has to sing it lol. Just be quiet or leave while it plays after games. I’m a black alumni and I love the song
— John Ellis (@johnellis79) May 5, 2021
Never let facts stand in the way of a good narrative…
— Facts & Opinions (@UT_vs_Aggie) May 4, 2021
Austin being the hub of leftist Texas doesn't really help I am sure. But none the less. pic.twitter.com/n1JhZxtQLB
— Dark Helmut Spiegel (@RRFlores84) May 4, 2021
“Dozens of students virtue signaling while blowing the bank’s money in their parents’ name and incurring lifetime debt they intend to have forgiven by taxpayers in order to major in underwater basket weaving”
— Orange51 (@Chinowith51) May 5, 2021
"Dozens of students at the University of Texas at Austin who give campus tours to prospective Longhorns are refusing to work this week over a dispute about a plaque with “The Eyes of Texas”…"
Yet Tens of thousands of students sing it at games. 🤔— Jim Phelan (@menapiaTweets) May 5, 2021
hey, @TexasFootball , this must be doing wonders for your recruiting, huh ?
— Chas Flores (@TCB07rob) May 5, 2021
Are tensions really "boiling"? A bit hyperbolic, I think.
— Happy Fun Ball (@happiestfunball) May 5, 2021
I went through this entire article trying to understand what the song was and what the substance of the disagreement was, and it doesn't say. Seems kind of relevant. As is it's just a "both sides mad" take with no info to judge the actual facts of the matter
— André Pineda (@drethescientist) May 5, 2021
We would have like to have more of that too, seeing as the debacle of calling “The Star-Spangled Banner” racist led people to vandalize the state of Francis Scott Key. From the story: “Last week, the Texas Orange Jackets hosted an online Zoom conversation with professor Alberto Martinez about his report on the song, which identified links to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.”
If you appease them on this, they'll come back with another demand…and it'll be something more significant than a song.
— Joseph Gonzales (@joseph7gonzales) May 5, 2021
I think an asteroid should hit earth and have a great reset
— yankees20 (@yankees207) May 5, 2021
We asked Justin Trudeau, Ralph Northam, Joy Behar, and Jimmy Kimmell what they thought of the song being performed in blackface, but they were all too busy with the jobs they managed to keep to answer.
Related:
Shaun King speaks ‘whole truth’ about ‘ugly’ National Anthem — but did he leave something out? https://t.co/3J38mAKkpk
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 30, 2016
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