Recently, many have become aware of a nauseating video created by three Texas A&M students and posted on a public website.
The video is utterly revolting, disrespectful to African-American history and shameful to the Aggie Family.
These students' actions have cast a negative light on every person affiliated with A&M, and it has reverberated throughout the nation.
Texas A&M has a very real and serious problem. This problem is as deep-rooted as many of the traditions we hold dear. Racism is a part of our past, but it cannot be a part of our future.
As members of the Aggie Family, we need to reach out to one another and learn to respect our differences. Those differences ultimately make us stronger, and respect is the foundation of the Aggie Spirit.
Issues of racism appear at A&M year after year because we allow them. A&M has a reputation of being unfriendly to minorities because we allow it to have that reputation, and we tolerate the hateful behavior that gives it that reputation.
The actions of the three individuals involved in the video are unacceptable, and will not be tolerated by Aggies. If you support this behavior, you do not belong at A&M. Hate is not, has not been and will never be acceptable.
Hate is not an issue that we need to work on solving; it is a mindset that needs to be eliminated. It has permeated the fabric of this campus far too long. The hearts of people who harbor hate must be changed.
We, the students, are the ones who must demand this change.
We, as the entire student body, need policy to address these issues - starting by holding ourselves to a standard of zero-tolerance of hate.
We, the entire student body, need goals. We need a timetable for these goals, and we need to implement them. We need to reach out to one another and look inside ourselves.
Each student at this University needs to uphold this commitment to change for as long as it takes to make a difference. An unwillingness to fight for change is the only obstacle keeping us from dismantling racism at Texas A&M.
