( CNN ) For four years , William Bruce James II called the University of Oklahoma 's Sigma Alpha Epsilon his home . He walked its halls , bunked in its rooms , held office as one of its leaders , considered his fraternity brothers his dearest friends . He was proud to be SAE . Now that pride is tainted . A video shot this Saturday of party-bound shows SAE members clapping , pumping their fists and chanting in unison : `` There will never be a ni**** SAE , '' they sing . `` You can hang him from a tree , but he can never sign with me . '' These young men are talking about him , James said . That 's because not only is he an SAE alumni , he is also African-American . How do you make sense of the fact that those behind these hateful words wore the same pledge pins , occupied the same house , preached `` the same motto that I hold dear to my heart '' as James did ? `` I could n't look at myself , '' he said , `` still claiming to be that . '' Since the video surfaced Sunday , students have been expelled and SAE 's Oklahoma chapter has shut down . The episode has left James disgusted , horrified that members of a fraternity that once welcomed him could espouse such hatred . Students expelled over racist chant . `` I do n't know what happened to the culture of my home , '' he told CNN on Tuesday . `` That is not my home . That is not SAE . They are not my brothers . '' While the Oklahoma frat has never had a lot of black members , that did n't matter to James when he joined in 2001 . SAE was where he forged lifelong friendships , where he and others grew into men . `` We were becoming something while I was there , '' he said . `` Something that I do n't think these kids grasped . ... I do n't think they know what it means to be a brother of any fraternity , let alone mine . '' James does n't believe the racist chant was an isolated incident , not given how many on the bus seemingly sang it so easily and enthusiastically . Nor does he think that only those leading the chant deserve punishment . Just as easily as one person could have started it , someone else could have called for it to stop . That 's what James thinks that his own fraternity brothers would 've done , whether he was around or not . They understood the importance of stepping up to say : `` This is n't right , this is n't what I stand for , this is n't gentlemanly , this is n't even human , '' he said . `` That 's what being an SAE is . '' `` My pledge class ... would n't let that happen , '' he said . `` And I do n't know what 's happened to ( the Oklahoma SAE chapter ) since then . '' Many members of that pledge class , as well others who he knew from SAE , have reached out to James in recent days by text , phone , email and Facebook . He knows he is not alone , including in his support for disbanding Oklahoma 's SAE chapter . `` That entire house has accepted the culture that accepts that song , those words , that imagery , '' James said . `` So the whole house has to be punished . '' His former frat brothers are different from him , of course . Their skin color would n't have stopped them from getting into SAE if the twisted chant reflected reality . Still , James feels their pain is real and sincere . Those on this weekend 's video may not be his brothers , but those he knew from 2001 to 2005 still are . `` I do n't think that they can fully encompass the pain and betrayal that I feel , '' James said of his white friends from the fraternity . `` But by holding me so close in their life , they know that their brother was hurt . '' `` So it 's a thing they 're feeling in their family . I 'm family to them . ''
William Bruce James II was in Oklahoma 's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter from 2001 to 2005 . He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and has been an active member of Phi Beta Kappa fraternity since his freshman year, according to the fraternity's website.