A Texas college's student newspaper is apologizing after coming under fire for running an opinion column called "Your DNA is an abomination" that accuses white people of being oppressors who “shouldn’t exist.”
Greg Gutfeld Monologue on Texas Tech Story
Greg Gutfeld Monologue on Texas Tech Story
The apology from Texas State’s University Star came just hours after the column was printed in the paper's Tuesday edition, sparking a backlash.
“Whiteness will be over because we want it to be,” the article reads, according to a photograph sent to Fox News by multiple viewers. “And when it dies, there will be millions of cultural zombies aimlessly wandering across a vastly changed landscape.”
In addition to stating “white death will mean liberation for all,” the columnist also says whiteness is “a construct used to perpetuate a system of racist power” and white people are “an aberration."
“Until then, remember this: I hate you because you shouldn’t exist,” the column adds. “You are both the dominant apparatus on the planet and the void in which all other cultures, upon meeting you, die.”
The column was written by Texas State University senior Rudy Martinez, a philosophy major who said in a past article he was one of the more than 200 people who was arrested on Jan. 20 protesting “the inauguration of proto-fascist Donald Trump.”
The University Star’s Editor-in-Chief, Denise Cervantes, said in a statement issued late Tuesday the column received “widespread criticism from readers.”
“The University Star’s opinion pages are a forum for students to express and debate ideas,” she said. “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.”
Cervantes said the original intent of the column was to provide a commentary on the idea of race and racial identities.
“We acknowledge that the column could have been clearer in its message and that it has caused hurt within our campus community,” she said. “We apologize and hope that we can move forward to a place of productive dialogue on ways to bring our community together.”
Andrew Homann, a former Texas State student body president and chief of staff at the Texas Federation of College Republicans, was among the leading critics of the column.
“Just when you think the opinion's columns in the University Star couldn't get any worse, they publish this masterpiece and exceed my expectations,” he wrote on a Facebook post Tuesday. “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."
Twitter users also ripped the newspaper and its response.
“After reading this I'm embarrassed for my University! I would not be okay if this was written in any other context, I made many friends from different cultures,” one wrote.
“I expect a better response and repercussions,” said another, in a message directed to the school’s president.
