Two of the NFL’s biggest stars are telling their alma mater to get a symbol of slavery off campus.
Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who both played at Clemson, want the school to stop honoring former Vice President John C. Calhoun, who was a slave owner and staunch defender of slavery. Calhoun’s son-in-law was Thomas Green Clemson, founder of the university, and the college campus in South Carolina is on the site of Calhoun’s Fort Hill plantation.
“Clemson University should not honor slave owner John C. Calhoun in any way,” Watson wrote on Twitter. “His name should be removed from all University property and programming. I am joining the students, faculty & DeAndre to restart this petition to rename the Calhoun Honors College.”
Hopkins wrote a longer post on Instagram.
“As we watch everything happening in the world, I want to bring up something that has been bothering me for a long time in my community,” Hopkins wrote. “Clemson University still honors the name of well known slave owner and pro-slavery politician John C. Calhoun on its buildings, signs, and in the name of its honors program. I felt this oppressive figure during my time at Clemson and purposely do not mention the University’s name before NFL games because of it. I am joining the voices of the students and faculty who have restarted this petition to rename the Calhoun Honors College.”
Calhoun was not only a slave owner but one of America’s fiercest advocates of slavery for many years, and a man who gave an infamous Senate speech that referred to slavery as a “positive good.” In 2017 Yale University took his name off its Calhoun College.