The Paisano denounces systemic oppression and racial bias, and we will remain committed to providing you with content covering these issues as we approach our 40th year in circulation. 

As student journalists, we are dedicated to providing the UTSA campus community with the latest content about issues from campus topics to the international affairs that impact our UTSA family.

This year in particular, collegiate journalists across the nation have been tasked with the job of creating content that is difficult to write about and equally saddening to process. Minority journalists are even furthering conversations about the privileges within society and sharing their own problems dealing with inequality.

Although George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and countless others were not senselessly killed in our own communities, San Antonians’ lives are taken or put at risk due to actions by the San Antonio Police Department. A member of the Roadrunner family, UTSA alumnus Mathias Ometu, was arrested last month because SAPD believed he matched the description of a suspect, but it was later discovered that Ometu was not who police were looking for. Ometu was jogging when he was wrongfully arrested by SAPD officers and later charged with a felony, which were eventually dropped. This use of excessive force will continue to be a reality for Black lives as long as those with a platform refuse to vocalize the harsh track record of injustice our country often tries to forget.

Our job as Paisano Editorial Board members will always be to keep our readership in touch with subjects that most affect them through different forms of media. Fostering conversations that encapsulate the Roadrunner experience and sharing breaking news our campus community needs to read will remain a cornerstone of our values and ethics.

In order for us to better serve the UTSA community, it is critical for us to be well-informed on the centuries-long history of racial injustice and to understand that these occurrences are not exclusive to 2020. This year’s fight for societal change is a product of centuries of rage and sorrow unraveling. These racial injustices are not limited to overt actions but are inherent in systems meant to disadvantage the Black community.

It is imperative that not only UTSA students but college students across the world hold their institutions accountable for racial bias. Institutions must create intersectional plans of action to support minorities in the quest for equality across social, economic and cultural systems. Whether your role on campus is as a student journalist, student athlete, faculty member, undergraduate student or graduate student — we must promote a society that offers everyone a seat at the table.

The fight for racial equality should not be perceived as a partisan topic but accepted as a requisite in society, and The Paisano will remain committed to having these core values ingrained in our newsroom’s culture for years to come.

#BlackLivesMatter