As a high school student in the 60s, I witnessed white Southern politicians defend segregation openly and unashamedly. Gov. George Wallace, Sen. Strom Thurman, Gov. Lester Maddox, Sen. Eastland, Sen. Stennis, all publicly attacked all efforts to integrate white schools.
After LBJ passed the Civil Rights act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, the law forced these despicable “leaders” to abide by the law and slither back into their holes.
Since the Republican-led U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to strike down these protections and decided that racism was no longer a problem in the South or elsewhere, racism is back, openly and with a vengeance. Unfortunately, many open racists went underground and gave up their white bed sheets of the Klan and put on black judicial robes.
Lawyers could not tell which DA or judge (State or Federal) was secretly racist until sentencing day.
This November, an avowed racist is running for a statewide office as Texas Railroad Commissioner. His past actions show how truly racist he is by asking, “Which group is a bigger threat to America, Jews or Muslims?” He referred to Native American protesters at Mt. Rushmore as “Third world savages.” He suggested President Obama should be executed for treason. This September, French posted a picture of a group of UT students celebrating a huge win over Ohio State in football. The students appeared to be of South Asian or Indian descent without knowing whether these young students were second or third generation Texans or U.S. Citizens.
Bo French was shocked at the appearance of dark-skinned kids celebrating. He stated, ” I heard UT graduation looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
Only Republican Sen. Cornyn condemned French’s racism. Gov. Abbott hemmed and hawed, saying, “That is not my message.” No other prominent Republican condemned this despicable statement. Their silence was complicit and accepting.
Bo French needs to be educated on a few statistics. UT- Austin has an acceptance rate of 18%. Last year there were 90,000 applicants. 90% of the incoming class must be Texas residents. Only the top 5% of graduating high school seniors are considered for acceptance.
The “problem” for Bo French was that a handful of students at a game looked “foreign” and did not belong there. He would prefer all University students in Texas to look like HIM. TCU accepted Bo based solely on his pigmentation, obviously.
Assuming a majority of these students are of Indian descent, his ignorance cannot fathom a culture that goes back 4,500 years. India has produced great philosophers and statesmen for millennia. Their religions predate the world’s major religions. Buddhism has been around for over 2,500 years. They introduced Hinduism, Jainism, and Sihkism. Their Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita have been followed by millions in India for over 2,200 years. Its philosophy is followed daily. India has given the world leaders like Mahatma Ghandi, J. Nehru, Indira Ghandi, and countless other philosophers and intellectuals.
Any one of the students whom Bo French disdained could be a future Nobel prize winner in medicine, physics, or chemistry. But to Bo French from Midland, these brilliant students are the “problem.” To French, people that look like Congressman Cuellar or Judge Tijerina and even “first lady” Abbott are the problem. Bo would be horrified at the next Republican fundraiser to see Vivek Ramaswamy, Tulsi Gabbard, Nikki Haley, Usha Vance, and even Kashap Patel having tea together.
H. G. Wells wrote: “There is no more evil thing in this world than race prejudice. It justifies and holds together more baseness, cruelty, and abomination than any other sort of error in the world.”
Let’s vote out all racists, closet or otherwise, one by one.
