Current Events > Texan on 'Eyes of Texas': "It is sad that it is offending the blacks...''

(+) Yeah! (+)

...As I said before the blacks are free and it's time for them to move on to another state where everything is in their favor."

^That was a quote from someone who emailed the school, the quote is in the article itself.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/01/ut-eyes-of-texas-donors-emails/

Buckle in, this is a long story but the TL;DR:

-"Eyes of Texas" is a song that the Texas football team plays after every (home) game.
-A non-negligible number of the current Black student population takes offense to the song.
-UT has received hundreds of emails complaining about the protest of the song, and dozens threatening to pull financial support (one even called to see how to revoke a 7 figure donation) if the school were to stop playing the song after football games

The wording of the song is as follows:

The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn --
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
Til Gabriel blows his horn.

-Some people believe the song is embracing the "Lost Cause" ideology which advocates that slavery in the Antebellum South was just and moral.
-Others are very taken to the song and have responded in descript detail about their feelings for the song and about those who would dare try to "cancel their song"

Some quotes from the article:

"It is disgraceful to see the lack of unity and our fiercest competitor Sam E[h]linger standing nearly alone," wrote one graduate whose name was also redacted by the university to protect the identity of a donor. "It is symbolic of the disarray of this football program which you inherited. The critical race theory garbage that has been embraced by the football program and the university is doing massive irreparable damage."

"The Eyes of Texas is non-negotiable," wrote another graduate who said theyve had season tickets since 1990 and whose name was redacted by the university. "If it is not kept and fully embraced, I will not be donating any additional money to athletics or the university or attending any events."

"My wife and I have given an endowment in excess of $1 million to athletics. This could very easily be rescinded if things dont drastically change around here," wrote one donor in October. His name was redacted by UT-Austin, citing open records laws that protect certain donor identities. "Has everyone become oblivious of who supports athletics??"

Among the donors who reached out was billionaire businessman and alumnus Bob Rowling, whose holding company owns Omni Hotels and previously owned Golds Gym and whose name graces a building within the McCombs School of Business.
"I am not advising you or taking any position regarding this issue right now, other than to say 'The Eyes' needs to be our song," Rowling wrote to Hartzell. "I AM wanting you to be aware of the 'talk about town' regarding UT. There are a lot of folks on this email chain who love UT and are in positions of influence."

In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Rowling stood by his email and said Hartzell should be cognizant of donors wishes.
"My advice to Jay was these alumni have given and are giving," Rowling told the Tribune. "We're in the middle of a capital campaign right now. ...We're raising billions of dollars right now. If you want to dry that up immediately, cancel 'The Eyes of Texas.'"

"Less than 6% of our current student body is black," wrote Larry Wilkinson, a donor who graduated in 1970, quoting a statistic UT-Austin officials have stated theyre working to improve. "The tail cannot be allowed to wag the dog.. and the dog must instead stand up for what is right. Nothing forces those students to attend UT Austin. Encourage them to select an alternate school .NOW!"

"I truly hope that you value diversity of opinion...but if you are similar to today's academia you will shut down conservative viewpoints and true facts,"wrote one alumni identified as Myers, who called themselves a "disgusted alumni" from the class of 1984. "I do not support UT anymore (even though my family has 3 generations of graduates) because it has become a bastion of far liberal indoctrination and only teaches one point of view...liberalism. Sorry, but it is clear at UT th

"UT is a far left indoctrination center that teaches people that all white men like us are evil, but we'll keep donating millions as long as you play our favorite song."

These are the kind of people that would flip out at naming something on campus after a black person, but would be pretty ok if a corporate sponsor took naming rights.

"Facts don't care about your feelings" they say while preferring schools to teach revisionist history as long as it makes the people they like look good. What do facts even have to do with this situation?

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Song sounds similar to:

In the eyes of a ranger
The unsuspecting stranger
Had better know the truth of wrong from right

'Cause the eyes of a ranger are upon you
Any wrong you do, he's gonna see
When you're in Texas, look behind you
'Cause that's where the ranger's gonna be

hockeybub89 posted...

"Facts don't care about your feelings" they say while preferring schools to teach revisionist history as long as it makes the people they like look good. What do facts even have to do with this situation?

THEIR facts don't care about YOUR feelings

I'm not seeing how the wording can be interpreted as embracing "the Lost Cause". I need some kind of explanation that connects the dots; I can't simply accept, "Look, I just think it is, OK?" as valid.

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Firewerx posted...

I'm not seeing how the wording can be interpreted as embracing "the Lost Cause". I need some kind of explanation that connects the dots; I can't simply accept, "Look, I just think it is, OK?" as valid.

I saw that particular comment referenced in the wikipedia article about the song but it has since been edited. Had no idea that the Wikipedia article would be subject to change so fast, because it is no longer there lol

Now under the same section it says:

The lyrics of the song have been accused of strong racial undertones due to an alleged performance of the song in blackface at the Varsity minstrel show, a fundraiser for University of Texas athletics during the early 1900s, and also an unsubstantiated claim that the song is directed at freed slaves. Most such accusations against the song are based purely on rumors and unproven theories.

As we can see with that last sentence, this is an ongoing shit show

MachineJaipur posted...

As I said before the blacks are free and it's time for them to move on to another state where everything is in their favor."

Well this guy is a real piece of shit

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Texans gonna texan

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Hypocritical of what?

Read that a Texas booster told a kid that they wouldnt be able to get a job in Texas if they didnt sing the song.
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Those people are all very terrible.

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This is just old rich white guys trying to flex their financial and cultural muscle and reassure themselves and everyone that they still have the reigns of power all to themselves. When they say jump, everyone else still has to say how high, when they say stop, you don't move a muscle.

This feels very very Old South in the worst ways.

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legendary_zell posted...

This feels very very Old South in the worst ways.

which is no surprise that this is also strongly tied to their football program. part of me wonders if one of the reasons college athletics is so much more popular in the south is because there's very much a "plantation mentality" view many seem to have of it.

ever hear those people who insist that college basketball is much better than the pros because the NBA players are too uppity and vocal and don't really try or respect the integrity of the game? they resent a (mostly black) league where players have more control and instead pine for college where players are basically totally replaceable and paid nothing while the coach is clearly at the top of the hierarchy and does whatever he deems fit.

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Delirious_Beard posted...

which is no surprise that this is also strongly tied to their football program. part of me wonders if one of the reasons college athletics is so much more popular in the south is because there's very much a "plantation mentality" view many seem to have of it.

ever hear those people who insist that college basketball is much better than the pros because the NBA players are too uppity and vocal and don't really try or respect the integrity of the game? they resent a (mostly black) league where players have more control and instead pine for college where players are basically totally replaceable and paid nothing while the coach is clearly at the top of the hierarchy and does whatever he deems fit.

Yep, exactly, word for word. It's really creepy.

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The day I take advice on race relations from someone who says "the blacks" is the day I go to a bed and breakfast run by Jeffrey fucking Dahmer.

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Foooooooooot baaaaaaaawwww!

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I love how people get stuck on things that don't matter at all to them. But if it hurts someone else they will defend it to they die. They should make a new song that goes with it and see how these people react. Maybe a racist song aimed at white people. If the people upset with this one is okay with anti white song then just play both, if they complain about point out their double standards .

WingsOfGood posted...

Song sounds similar to:

In the eyes of a ranger
The unsuspecting stranger
Had better know the truth of wrong from right

'Cause the eyes of a ranger are upon you
Any wrong you do, he's gonna see
When you're in Texas, look behind you
'Cause that's where the ranger's gonna be

lol That is the first thing that came to my mind too.

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What does that song even mean?

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Wait. Is it supposed to be to the tune of workin on the railroad?

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Texas:


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WingsOfGood posted...

Song sounds similar to:

In the eyes of a ranger
The unsuspecting stranger
Had better know the truth of wrong from right

'Cause the eyes of a ranger are upon you
Any wrong you do, he's gonna see
When you're in Texas, look behind you
'Cause that's where the ranger's gonna be

I thought the same exact thing

Chuck is everywhere

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