UT student-athletes are taking a stand against racism
Nov. 28, 2021
As racial tensions rise across the country, many members of the UT Longhorns baseball team have decided not to sing “The Eyes of Texas” to stand in solidarity with their Black teammates.
The University of Texas at Austin, a predominately white campus, has a history of racial inequity that affects many of the students of color. UT athletes have become the center of controversy on campus as Black athletes voiced their concerns about the university’s racial tensions. “The Eyes of Texas” has sparked controversy among the school’s athletes, students, faculty and donors in the past couple of years. Students said they believe the song has racist origins, while donors and sponsors argue that it is an integral part of the university’s history. With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, UT, like many campuses across the country, is coming to a racial reckoning. Many Black student-athletes are walking a thin line between representing their school on the field and representing their community and identity.
Just 5.3 % of UT students are Black, according to a Fall 2020 report conducted by the UT Institutional Reporting, Research and Information Systems, the office that produces the school's official statistics. Of this small demographic, 3% of Black students attending the university are playing on one of UT's many sports teams.
In recent years, Black student-athletes have spoken out against systemic racism and racial injustice across the country and on campus.
“We, as student-athletes, and collectively as the University of Texas Longhorn football team, are aware that we are an athletic department made up of many Black athletes, and believe that it is time we become active on our campus,” written in a statement posted on Twitter by many student-athletes and social justice advocates in June 2020. In the statement, student-athletes demanded a permanent Black athletic history exhibit in the Hall of Fame, the renaming of buildings named after Texans associated with racist ideologies and the discontinuation of the school song, “The Eyes of Texas.”
The alma mater, often played at University sports events, has become a dividing force among student social justice activists and the university. Questions over the song’s origins, whether it has ties to minstrel shows and its creation during a time of racial segregation, led the school to commission a report on the song's history. The commission concluded that the song came from a racist time, however, they found no evidence of racist intent. The Eyes of Texas Committee instead saw the song as a chance to confront the school's history of racism.
“The exclusion of Black students at that time presents an opportunity to think about how they and other communities of color have fought for inclusion and the work that remains to ensure all members of our community feel they belong,” written in The Eyes of Texas History Committee Report.
Dylan Campbell, a member of the Texas Longhorns baseball team, said he and his teammates decided to continue standing during the alma mater in unity with the team, but agreed not to sing the words.
Campbell spoke with his coaches about the controversy surrounding the university’s alma mater. He said he felt supported by his coaches because they truly cared about how he felt, knowing that it was a sensitive topic for Black student-athletes.
“Being here, it’s my duty to be heard by my community,” Campbell said.
Campbell said being a Black student at a predominately white campus means he expects difficulties in obtaining the same opportunities as other students but continues to work past these challenges.
“One thing I made sure that I would do for my Black teammates is always stick together with them,” Campbell said. “We have to work as a team because there aren’t many of us. We are all we have. Luckily the diversity in the program is growing each year.”
Skylarr Fields, a member of the Texas Longhorns women's volleyball team, said she has never felt alone or excluded because the majority of her team are women of color.
“The majority of us are Black so we have leaned on one another,” Fields said.
Members of the Texas Longhorns women's volleyball team have publicly shown their support for the Black Lives Matter movement by creating Black Lives Matter t-shirts, spreading awareness on social media and even writing "BLM" on their finger tape for games.
The act of unity among the Black teammates is also having a positive effect on teammates who are not of color. “They have taken it upon themselves to become educated, so they can understand why we feel the way we feel,” Fields said.