UT Drum Major - more idiocy

Can people not find actual problems to fix?

UT drum major says she won’t lead ‘The Eyes of Texas’ when football returns

 

“It’s not ultimately about the song, it’s about ingrained, institutionalized racism that frankly, in invisible form, takes the image of a school song,” Morales said. “Removing our alma mater is the first step to realizing the oppression that the Black students face on campus and off campus.”

Listen lady, as a graduate student I volunteered to mentor minority engineering students on campus in the mid-90’s. Don’t take this too personal, but you can go f**k yourself.

 

Not sure many fans will show up anyway. I am walking away from Longhorn Football until this group is gone. If more join, I will stay away forever.

 

She is attention-starved, just like most young people on social media.

 

The last part of your statement Mchammer is very well put and you took the words right out of my mouth.

 

Agreed 100%. And, the fact that black members of the band formed an organization for them to “feel safe” on campus. WTF? Are they actually attending UT? I must have been totally oblivious to the horrific climate they endure. Also, it would be fascinating to see the objective admission data for these members. As I recall, about 75% of band members were national merit semi- finalists.

 

Since the Administration, not exactly a bunch of conservatives, has decided to keep "The Eyes", perhaps she should consider stepping down as Drum Major if it offends her so much.

 

I am freaking blown away this. As an alumni of LHB who openly leans more to the center/left of many on this board- this is pure idiocy from her. Can all these fools just stop with the demands on the Eyes?

 

I prefer the alumni band anyway. I say bring back the alumni band, add any current members that do want to play The Eyes, and send the remaining woke members home.

 

If you don't want to play 'The Eyes of Texas', why the hell did you join the LHB?

 

The education-industrial complex is run entirely by leftists. It's been as ethnically cleansed of all conservatives as the rest of the Middle East was of Jewish people after Israel became a country.

So you have to ask yourself, "why are places run by leftists so mean to to blacks?"

As for foolish demands like this stopping, why would they? This woman will be lauded and praised for "speaking her mind. For standing up" For blah blah blah, let the fitting of the golden halo begin.

Now if she said she was going to vote for the President of the United States and was donating money to his re-election she'd be finished. Such is life on campus now.

 

I certainly hope you and your fellow alums speak up about this stupidity. Just hoping that will somehow make a difference in how this plays out.

 

the world we grew up in is gone and the new one is largely unrecognizable to us oldsters. Wonder what they will settle on for a new school song.

when I started at UT in 69 there were no blacks on the football team. Things change. Get used to it

abandoning The Eyes will required the Aggots to abandon part of their school song as well, no?

 

Have or will all black & Hispanic churches stop singing "Amazing Grace"?

If you don't like the school song, you can easily:

1) Find another school, since there is no shortage _ University of Phoenix does not have a school song

2) Do not attend events where the song will be featured.

3) Find another school

4) Do not join a student organization that is required to attend events where the song is featured

5) Find other school

 

The school’s choral group has been singing Battle Hymn of the Republic for decades. You know that song the union soldiers sang as they burned their way across that political entity Texas was a part of? Nice song even if it was sung by people slaughtering our ancestors.
No biggie, just like getting rid of The Eyes will be no biggie in 20 years

what you gonna do when a bunch of players refuse to sing and some band guys refuse to play? Boo forever?

when I showed up in 69 there were no blacks on the football team and now the field is named after a couple of them.
Getting used to change is a necessity as well as a mark of maturity. This is not to say I think there is a good ground for abandoning the Eyes.

 

How is getting used to change along with all the bull **** being shoved down your throat by a small minority of the population a mark of maturity?

 

I just don't equate the injustice of not having any black players on the team in 1969 with the current "wokeness." In fact, I am still looking for a list of LEGITIMATE grievances that black students face at UT in 2020. Based on my family's personal experience- it is definitely NOT about having an equal opportunity for admission.

Frankly, I am not too keen on "getting used to change" for change's sake. And, I don't think that is a sign of me somehow being less "mature."

 

Agreed. It was always my favorite halftime when the Alum band performs.

 

After reading that crap article in the Dallas Morning News, this is the e-mail I sent to the director of LHB and the director of bands. Id like to think many other alumni have done the same but I just couldn't hold back any longer.


Esteemed professors,

I hope you have been well, and I appreciate the difficulties you and the rest of the faculty must be facing as you try to prepare for this truly unprecedented fall semester. I’ve been away from the School of Music and the university for some time, but after reading a number of articles and Op-Eds on this subject and the views of current students in LHB that have commented publicly on this, I wanted to humbly offer my thoughts on the state of “The Eyes of Texas.”

Awareness has been heightened in recent months to racism and its history and persistence in society, not just here in the US, but worldwide, and people everywhere have become introspective to its reach within our institutions. One cannot separate the University of Texas and its history from segregation. It wasn’t until 1950 that UT accepted its first Black law student, 1956 that UT accepted its first undergraduate Black student, and 1970 that UT enrolled its first Black football player.

These are all inescapable facts. The buildings on campus and the university’s vast endowment can all be tied to a history of racism and segregation. One can argue that the university’s very foundation is built on a racist history. If “The Eyes of Texas” is so inexplicably tied to racism that current students in the band feel they can no longer perform it, how can they wear the uniform, or perform inside DKR Texas Memorial Stadium at all? Why is there is no push to forfeit the record books of the UT football team or any athletics team prior to 1970? How is anything associated with the university not eligible for cancellation? Or perhaps, is “The Eyes” seen as something insignificant enough to sacrifice in order to appease individuals’ moral persuasions so that other, more difficult items to remove can be forgiven or forgotten about?

By any account I have read, “The Eyes of Texas” was not written as a racist anthem. On the contrary, it was written to inspire students at the university. The fact that the words “The eyes of Texas are upon you” are a reworking of Robert E. Lee’s “The eyes of the South are upon you” does not make it a racist epithet.

Unfortunately, in 1903 minstrel shows where performers wore blackface was common and had “The Eyes of Texas” never been written, those performances would have continued to occur as they had for many years before and many years after. In short, the fact that “The Eyes” in its earliest days was performed at a minstrel show is simply a matter of contemporary fact. The song has always stood as an anthem of solidarity for all Longhorns. That is what it was written to convey, and indeed it does. All one must do is read the words.

Just as slavery existed when the United States constitution was written, the constitution specifically speaks to ALL people. It was ahead of its time, and Frederick Douglass, a former slave himself, acknowledged this fact. Likewise, “The Eyes” doesn’t have one word of discrimination within it. It too, one could say, was ahead of its time. It IS timeless. If people think “The Eyes” is synonymous with racism, then perhaps the university itself should be dissolved given the inescapability of its history. Of course, no one will seriously consider that, and all current members of Longhorn Band and the university will still throw up the horns and proudly display their degree on the wall with pride. (The “Hook’em Horns” hand sign wasn’t created until 1955 when the football team was all White and the first undergraduate Black student was still a year away… is it not also tainted?)

We shouldn’t let the “The Eyes of Texas” be a scapegoat for the ignorance of those who lived during the time it was written, otherwise the entire university is eligible for “cancellation.” We must never view history through the lens of the present.

 

Not bad 03, not bad at all. In fact darn good if I do say so myself. Thanks.

 

Interstate 35 runs in both directions, I'm sure she will be happier at another school. I know I would be happier to see this generation leave.

As a parent I feel like we have failed our kids. It feels like this generation is completely lost.

 

I mean, I'm just trying to be logical here.

 

@2003TexasGrad fantastic write up. You hit the nail on the head. The only actual objection to The Eyes of Texas is that was written by alleged racists. I mean, there is nothing wrong with the phrase "The Eyes of the South Are Upon You" other than the fact that Robert E. Lee said it and some object to Robert E. Lee. Robert E. Lee also said "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.", so I guess we all should be pro war and anti peace now? Anyway, UT was formed by former confederates, so under the same logic the people who oppose The Eyes of Texas are using, they should not choose to attend UT at all. Anyone who has a problem with The Eyes of Texas, but is fine with attending UT or working at UT is a hypocrite... or is not smart enough to be attending or working at UT.

Things do change. It does not mean people should not fight for what is right or stand against stupidity.

Find a new school to support. They have succeeded in running me off from UT football if things do not get fixed. I have no interest in paying any money to see some dishonest, misguided political protest from the players, band or fans during The Eyes of Texas.

Speaking of change, if UT keeps alienating people, things will change for UT as well. Without the strong support of its alumni, things will change and UT will not be able to maintain a first class university or athletic program in the long run. It will be a shame when things change and that day comes because Texans (not just longhorns) stood idly by and let their flagship institution of higher learning become overrun with corruption and stupidity. The craziest thing to me is just how many of these admins and others UT hires went to far inferior non-Texas schools and we let them make decisions on things they could not care less about like our traditions. It seems like we could find plenty of qualified alumni to do a lot of these jobs....

 

Somewhere, there is a member of the Band who has aspired to be a drum major and is now eagerly hoping "next man/woman up' ALSO applies to the band and NOT just football at Texas...

 

Maybe it was upthread, but do band members receive scholarship money for being in the band?

 

Exactly. You were more blunt but yeah, if The Eyes is a problem to you and the rest of the university isn't, then you're a dumbass.

 

Also come on guys, no one catch the "tainted" near the end?

 

That's what i did. called and said give me my money back.
"do you wanna use the money to pay next year?" No
"do you wanna make it a donation? No
"Do you want to just....blah-blah-blah ?" NO, NO, NO

Done with UT until someone w/ sense takes charge. Being that we are now where we are, i doubt that day will ever come. So I guess i'm just done with UT.

 

Did I tell you I was going? I’m going.

 

I can't help but watch the team and want them to win. But haven't and won't give them my money.