Bo French leads the charge on racism.

In recent years, Texas has increasingly become a place where individuals interested in suppressing minority groups can rise in political power and enforce their hateful agenda on all of us. We’ve previously covered Bo French, the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commissioner, being more famous for his racist and stupid comments at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) than anything to do with oil and gas. This week, he drew regrettable national attention again for his discriminatory and hateful comments following a college football game.  

After the Texas Longhorns’ emphatic Saturday victory against Ohio State, French posted a photo of UT Austin students of South Asian descent celebrating the win, writing “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 went on to clarify in a second post that his comment referred to “foreigners.” French continued by adding “I weep for the families in Texas who can’t get into UT because they prioritize foreigners over Texans.”  

Since then, French’s comments have received swift backlash from Democrats and Republicans. Governor Greg Abbott criticized French in his own post, stating “A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory — ever — actually shows a way that Texans unite. We all support our college football teams. The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas.” Despite that, Abbott pandered to immigration hawks anyway, adding, “That doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1-B visas at our universities.”  

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for the US Senate race, responded to the situation saying he “condemn[s] racism in all its forms,” then unnecessarily slandering his opponent, James Talarico, who pressured Paxton to issue a response regarding this situation, saying “including James Talarico saying white men are America's top terror threat and that he prays to overcome his own ‘whiteness,’ whatever that means.”  

For UT’s part, President Jim Davis issued a lackluster response to French’s comments, merely stating that all the university’s students are exceptional and “all of them are Longhorns.” Dhariya Gupta, one of the students pictured, said that he thought it was “insane” to see derogatory comments towards him and his friends coming from a major-party nominee for statewide office, adding that it was shocking to see the number of Texans that have publicly supported French’s statement.  

Bo French’s extremely racist comments demeaning minority students at UT – a majority-minority institution – should raise questions regarding his ability to lead all Texans in a positive direction if he wins the election in November. It is safe to assume that French is not keen on the idea of serving Texans that don’t fit his idea of how the state “should” look. UT Austin students, no matter their race, are among the most impressive students in the nation; students who do not deserve to have their accomplishments smeared by a racist.  

As we are provided with yet another example of why this upcoming election is so crucial to the quality of life all Texans, regardless of their background, we remind Hotline readers that Texas AFT Committee on Political Education (COPE) has endorsed an exceptional candidate, Jon Rosenthal, for Railroad Commissioner. You can read our prior coverage of the Railroad Commission race here. 

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