Unhappy with the progress that has been made since he and his teammates banded together and submitted a list of demands for campus change to university leaders, Longhorns linebacker DeMarvion Overshown shared this afternoon that he plans to sit out of all team activities until the proper changes are made.
His tweet simply states - "Until We Are One"
Three weeks ago now, Texas players released a list of demands meant to hold the athletic department and university to a higher standard by not only asking them to keep their promise of condemning racism on our campus, but to go beyond this by taking action to make Texas more comfortable and inclusive for the black athletes and black community that has so fervently supported this program.”
In Overshown's tweet, he shares that players have been told that progress on that list is being made behind closed doors, but they have yet to see any actual concrete changes.
Below is the full statement:
This call for change comes on the heels of Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signing a bill earlier this week to change their state flag which displays the Confederate emblem after star running back Kylin Hill took a stance saying he wouldn't play until the flag was changed. His stance quickly gained momentum and at the meeting at the state capital both Bulldogs head coach Mike Leach and Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin were in attendance to support the stance.
Reflecting back on the list of demands from Longhorn players, here are a few of the requests.
— Donating 0.5 percent of the athletics department’s annual earnings to “black organizations and the BLM movement”
— Renaming an area of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium after Julius Whittier, the program’s first black player
— Replacing “The Eyes of Texas” as the school’s alma mater with “a new song without racist undertones” while dropping the requirement for players to sing the song after games.
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