I have stayed silent on this subject for a while now and honestly had no desire to discuss it. But the level to which this has blown up has caused me to want to speak my mind on the matter. I'm not here to debate anything or start an argument so please don't take it that way. But the amount of hate involved with the words of that stupid song/chant of those SAE's has been far outdone by the amount of hate they have received in response. Don't get me wrong, those kids needed to be severely punished. And I'm glad it was so quick.
But these kids are paying a hefty toll for their actions. They've been vilified, had their fraternity shutdown, had their housing taken away and in the case of two of them, expelled from school. And the important word to remember here, is kids. These are 18 and 19 year olds. These were Freshmen. I thank God that social media wasn't this widespread back when I was a freshman because of all the stupid things I did. I'm sure you all have done something in your lives that you would never want put out on social media. But these 'kids' clearly did not create this song. It was taught to them by older members. Maybe they thought it was funny, maybe they were just peer pressured into singing it, or maybe they actually believe those words (which I sincerely hope not). But regardless, this was a terrible mistake on their part. They are paying the consequences. But I would hate for them to be judged the rest of their life based on one mistake they made.
My point is that I don't like fighting hate with more hate. Maybe some of you will find this post ridiculous and you are absolutely entitled to your opinion. But personally, I'm big on second chances. I will never judge another person based entirely off one action. I hate that this had to lead to expulsions and these kids weren't able to redeem themselves as Sooners. At the same time, I understand that the animosity that was going to be shown towards them, probably warranted this. Let me make this clear... I found that video to be repulsive and most of all, I was ashamed that it happened at my alma mater.
There is still to this day, a heavy division between races on college campuses around the country, including OU. I hope that this video actually works to bring different races closer together and unify them at OU, but I'm afraid all hate will do the opposite. I don't care about black or white. We're all Crimson and Cream.
Written with entirely good intentions. Boomer!
But these kids are paying a hefty toll for their actions. They've been vilified, had their fraternity shutdown, had their housing taken away and in the case of two of them, expelled from school. And the important word to remember here, is kids. These are 18 and 19 year olds. These were Freshmen. I thank God that social media wasn't this widespread back when I was a freshman because of all the stupid things I did. I'm sure you all have done something in your lives that you would never want put out on social media. But these 'kids' clearly did not create this song. It was taught to them by older members. Maybe they thought it was funny, maybe they were just peer pressured into singing it, or maybe they actually believe those words (which I sincerely hope not). But regardless, this was a terrible mistake on their part. They are paying the consequences. But I would hate for them to be judged the rest of their life based on one mistake they made.
My point is that I don't like fighting hate with more hate. Maybe some of you will find this post ridiculous and you are absolutely entitled to your opinion. But personally, I'm big on second chances. I will never judge another person based entirely off one action. I hate that this had to lead to expulsions and these kids weren't able to redeem themselves as Sooners. At the same time, I understand that the animosity that was going to be shown towards them, probably warranted this. Let me make this clear... I found that video to be repulsive and most of all, I was ashamed that it happened at my alma mater.
There is still to this day, a heavy division between races on college campuses around the country, including OU. I hope that this video actually works to bring different races closer together and unify them at OU, but I'm afraid all hate will do the opposite. I don't care about black or white. We're all Crimson and Cream.
Written with entirely good intentions. Boomer!
