The Eyes of Texas are Upon You

All the live long 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

‘Till Gabriel Blows his horn

I find it incomprehensible that this song is now deemed racially offensive. According to Ted Gordon, the vice provost for diversity at University of Texas, the song should no longer be played at Texas sporting events because (1) the song had very clear minstrel connections. That is, its original verses were played at a minstrel show, which featured performers in a black face (2) the song was written and performed in a period of intense anti-black sentiment in Texas (3) the song was established in 1903 during a period of lynching’s and Jim Crow society.

I am going to take a position opposite of Mr. Gordon. First of all, irrespective of “its original words” these are the current words of the song. Moreover, for my entire life, I and millions of others have only sung the above words. Secondly, if I do not defend the singing of The Eyes of Texas, I believe that I am not doing my duty to support democracy and freedom. Stated differently, deferring to Mr. Gordon would be comparable to the thought police employed during the Stalinist era, the Red Guard in China, and the anti-Communist hysteria in America during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. (3) Should we discard the music of Irving Berlin because many of his songs were sang by Whites wearing black face and written at the same time as the Eyes of Texas?

As the late Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia said, let us go to the original terms. In this case, the words that I have written at the beginning of this essay. There is not one shred of racism in those words.

My problem with what is happening on political campuses is that we are preventing free speech. When I was at the University of Texas (1962-1966) we had the socialist Upton Sinclair speak and Senator Eugene McCarthy who was questioning the Vietnam War. In the era of my attendance at the University of Texas, the University was quite conservative and under the influence of President Johnson. Clearly, Upton Sinclair and Eugene McCarthy represented dissenting views from President Johnson. Sadly, for the most part conservative speakers are now effectively banned from college campuses because of demonstrators. For twenty years, the “communist singer” Pete Seeger was blacklisted. One of his sources of income was performing at college campuses. Do we really think it is America’s interest to ban now speakers who question Affirmative Action?

It is my understanding that Americans should be prepared for a summer of demonstrations. Clearly, we need to address racism. However, just as important, we need to encourage dialogue and dissenting opinions. In the 1930’s throughout Europe controlling the streets was the objective of the Fascists and Communists. The loser was democracy.  In the 1950’s people were blacklisted who fought against the fascists in Spain in the Abraham Lincoln brigades. Why was it appropriate to take up arms against fascism in the 1930’s but not the 1950’s?

In closing, I worry about the future of freedom and democracy in America. I worry when we disparage the Founders of our Country because they “aided and abetted the original sin of Slavery.” I worry when people use the term “institutional racism” without defining this term. I worry when a person calls for $14 trillion in reparations for descendants of slaves and expects “whites to pay for it.”