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byTom Ciccotta29 Nov 20170
An opinion piece published in the student newspaper at Texas State University this week tells white people that their “DNA is an abomination.”
“You were not born white. You became white… You don’t give a damn,” Texas Tech student Rudy Martinez wrote in the University Star student newspaper.
According to the Washington Examiner, Martinez was arrested in Washington D.C. during President Trump’s inauguration. Martinez attempted to crowdfund money to help pay his legal fees, raising $1,345 of a $2,000 goal.
“Whiteness will be over because we want it to be,” Martinez wrote in the column. “And when it dies, there will be millions of cultural zombies aimlessly wandering across a vastly changed landscape. Ontologically speaking, white death will mean liberation for all… Until then, remember this: I hate you because you shouldn’t exist. You are both the dominant apparatus on the planet and the void in which all other cultures, upon meeting you, die.”
“When I think of all the white people I have ever encountered – whether they’ve been professors, peers, lovers, friend, police officers, et cetera – there is perhaps only a dozen I would consider ‘decent,’” Martinez continued.
The piece was titled “Your DNA is an abomination,” and ran under a genre header simply labeled, “whiteness.” A photograph of the column from the newspaper was provided to the media by former Texas Tech student body president Andrew Homann.
“This is blatant racism against white people for nothing other than the color of their skin. She literally states she hates white people because we shouldn’t exist,” Homann wrote on Facebook. “No one is going to stop Rudy from accomplishing what she wants, I guess aside from her lack of intellect. No one is going to take this paper seriously if the editorial board continues to allow baseless garbage to be published week in and week out.”
“I have no doubt that racism is still alive today. Look no further than this blatantly racist, divisive article posted by the University Star,” Homann told the Washington Examiner. “While I believe Mr. Martinez has every right to express his disparaging world-view, I am appalled that the school paper, funded by tuition and tax dollars, would give this guy a platform to do so.”
On Tuesday, Denise Cervantes, the Editor-in-Chief of the University Star at Texas Tech published an editorial note about Martinez’s column. “The column has received widespread criticism from readers, with many expressing that they find the author’s ideas to be racist,” she wrote. “The University Star’s opinion pages are a forum for students to express and debate ideas. While our publication does not endorse every opinion put forth by student columnists or guest contributors, as the editor I take responsibility for what is printed on our pages.”
“The original intent of the column was to comment on the idea of race and racial identities,” she finished. “We acknowledge that the column could have been clearer in its message and that it has caused hurt within our campus community. We apologize and hope that we can move forward to a place of productive dialogue on ways to bring our community together.”
Martinez’s column no longer appears on the University Star website.
