Football players at the University of Texas at Austin decided last summer that they wanted in on the “racial reckoning” of Black Lives Matter. The target of their activism was the university alma mater.
It turns out they didn’t do their research.
Texas players wanted the song to be dumped, arguing it was racist. The band ditched it for football games. Sports media jumped in, with the Athletic’s David Ubben claiming the university was choosing donors over players. Players claimed the song had “racist undertones” because it dated back to a minstrel show in which some actors wore blackface. But they were wrong.
In order to address this ridiculous controversy, the university set up a committee to research the origins of the song. That committee came back with a 59-page report concluding that the song had “no racist intent.” The report acknowledges that the song “debuted in a racist setting,” which isn’t exactly surprising given that it was Texas in 1903, but the song itself was “intended to parody the famous phrases of the university president” at the time.
After all of that fuss, the song isn’t racist and the university is keeping it as the alma mater. The players, in their desire to show that they were making some sort of a change, did little research and changed nothing. And they aren’t the only sports figures to flaunt their social justice credentials mistakenly.
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey distanced himself from the team’s decision to honor Antwon Rose Jr., who was connected to a drive-by shooting before he was shot and killed by a police officer who was acquitted. Athletes from multiple sports were quick to support Jacob Blake, the man shot near his car in Wisconsin last summer, before the facts came out involving his restraining order and being armed with a knife. They still won’t admit they were wrong. NFL players still honor Michael Brown, despite the fact that it’s clear he tried to grab a police officer’s gun before he was shot in self-defense six years ago in Ferguson, Missouri.
Athletes are free to weigh in on politics and activism, but they don’t get a pass for being ignorant of the issues on which they are speaking out. Their feelings are not a substitute for reality, and UT-Austin was correct to push back against its athletes, even if the school did so as gently as possible. Athletes should recognize that it becomes more difficult to take them seriously when they choose social justice posturing over more substantive complaints.
