The family of Levi Pettit bought themselves a domain name and issued an apology on behalf of themselves and their son for leading his frat brothers in a racist chant.
Not buying it.
As parents of Levi, we love him and care for him deeply. He made a horrible mistake, and will live with the consequences forever. However, we also know the depth of our son's character. He is a good boy, but what we saw in those videos is disgusting. While it may be difficult for those who only know Levi from the video to understand, we know his heart, and he is not a racist. We raised him to be loving and inclusive and we all remain surrounded by a diverse, close-knit group of friends.
He is NOT a "good boy" since good people by the very definition of being "good" don't say things like that and orchestrate others to join in vile racism.
Also, he IS a racist. What he did is the very definition of a racist act. This is no a naive white boy putting on black face. This is not a toddler spouting a word he didn't understand or simply aping older children or adults, this is an overt act of racism declaring support for text book discrimination and "joking" about lynching.
We have seen what is in his heart and it is MALIGNANT. Seeing it there we have to wonder where the cancerous hatred came from in the first place, and the most likely answer is from his home and his parents. Character, as the saying goes, is who you are in the dark, or in this case, who you are on a bus with a bunch of similarly inclined white people.
We would also like to apologize to the – entire African American community, University of Oklahoma student body and administration. Our family has the responsibility to apologize, and also to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. Our words will only go so far – as a family, we commit to following our words with deeds.
It is nice that you would want to apologize if you are GENUINELY sorry, but the catch here is that you cannot apologize on your son's behalf. He must apologize himself and in his own words, without equivocation. Failure to do so means that not only is your son a racist, but he is a coward as well.
We ask that the media and public please respect our family's privacy as we come together to heal and determine next steps.
No, you don't get to do that. You have injected yourself into the discussion with this "apology" and as such have opened yourself up to the full scrutiny of the media and the public.
Welcome to Pariahville. Population: You.