EmailPrintJust after Texas closed out a dramatic, comeback victory over Ohio State on Saturday, television cameras panned to the Longhorn student section.Among the tens of thousands of orange-clad, often cowboy-hat-wearing undergrads who were jumping and celebrating was a group who appeared to be of non-white descent. Presumably, the vast majority of the millions watching at home thought nothing of it.Why would they? This is what college football is all about, a magical night of drama and passion and action and emotion. These were fans basking in victory.Bo French felt differently, taking a screenshot and posting it on X under the caption: "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn't believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."He wasn't talking about young people cheering. He was talking about the race of those young people.French is running for Texas railroad commissioner, with the election set for this November. As such, this wasn't treated as just some racist crank on the internet.The post has racked up over 35 million views and become a political touchstone, with French being condemned across party lines, including many of his own fellow Republicans."A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory - ever - actually shows a way that Texans unite," Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement."This breaks my heart," wrote Lacey Hull, a Republic state representative who called for the post to be deleted. "I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans."French hasn't backed down, posting additional complaints that "institutions have been overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals."He later claimed UT admissions prioritize "foreigners over Texans" even as there is no indication anyone in the photo isn't an American, let alone a Texan. It also ignores the fact that under state law, the UT-Austin freshman class is required to be made up of at least 90% Texas residents.That anyone could be so triggered and terrified by students at a football game suggests they have lived a sad, scared and hateful life. They seem incapable of realizing how many friendships and experiences their ignorance and cowardice have cost them.This is the land of the free, though, which includes being free to expose your own nescience.What that image really represents is what sports can do for society. The "threat" to Texas isn't the guys in the screenshot, but the ones such as Bo French who seek to divide, even during events that are uniquely capable of uniting us.Sports provide a communal experience, everywhere from rural high schools to big city pro teams to entire nations gathering in public squares during the World Cup.Cheering on a team cuts across ages, races, religions and every other socioeconomic category. Fandom does not ask who you are, let alone who your father is, or was. It's just there, open to all.It's what gives workers -- from the boss to the new guy -- something to discuss during breaks. Or two strangers on a bus. Or a collection of family or old friends who have spread out across the country but maintain an eye on the team back home. It provides shared identities and binds diverse communities.It allows people to be a part of something bigger than their own self.Life is better that way. So to those too miserable to realize this truth, can you please just let it be?The image Bo French found troubling was actually the American dream in progress. You study and work and get to go to a school to better yourself, help your family and move society forward. UT-Austin accepts any student in the top 5% of their in-state graduating class, a clear meritocracy in action.The quick pan of that camera didn't explain who and where the students came from. Statistically, they are likely American-born, proud products of Texas high schools; although it wouldn't matter if they were or weren't. Texas is a vast and varied state. Not everyone is the same. Why would anyone want them to be?The fact that the kids matriculating to Old State U can look different across the decades -- that the Class of 2026 is not the Class of 1996, let alone 1966 -- is a positive, if not the point of the entire thing.This is the land of opportunity. Or at least it's supposed to be.And those who seize the opportunity should be able to go to watch their school's football team play so they cheer and celebrate the way everyone else is and has for generations. They are as much a Longhorn as any Longhorn ever was.Texas won a big, big game on Saturday.No small, small man should be allowed to tear that apart.
