( CNN ) Levi Pettit , who was expelled from the University of Oklahoma for spouting a racist chant at a fraternity activity , says he 's `` deeply sorry . '' `` Although I do n't deserve it , I want to ask for your forgiveness , '' Pettit said as he read from a prepared statement at a news conference on Wednesday . `` There are no excuses for my behavior . I never thought of myself as a racist . I never considered it a possibility . But the bottom line is that the words that were said in that chant were mean , hateful and racist . '' Flanked at the podium by African American leaders who he 'd been meeting with at the Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma City , Pettit , who is white , said he planned to spend the rest of his life trying to undo the damage he 'd done . Pettit 's parents released a statement apologizing for his behavior earlier this month . But it was n't until Wednesday that he spoke out himself . `` Some have wondered why I have n't spoken out publicly . The truth is , I 've had a mix of pain , shame , sorrow and fear over the consequences of my actions , '' he said . `` I did not want to apologize to the press or to the whole country first , until I came here to apologize to the community most directly impacted . '' Pettit read from a letter he 'd written the university 's president apologizing for his actions and said he 's committed to taking steps to prevent racism in the future . `` Over the past week or so , I 've met with a number of pastors and leaders in the community to seek understanding of the meaning behind the words that I spoke on that bus , '' Pettit said . `` Meeting with a few people does not change what I did , but it has begun to change me , and my understanding of those hateful words . '' His comments come more than two weeks after a nine-second clip surfaced showing party-bound fraternity members on a bus making racial slurs against blacks . In it , students at the now-disbanded Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma clap , pump their fists and laugh as they hurl racial slurs and make a reference to lynching . School officials expelled Pettit and another student , Parker Rice , because of their alleged `` leadership role '' in the racist chant . Rice has also apologized , saying he 'd made a `` horrible mistake '' and that the chant was `` wrong and reckless . '' Pettit declined to answer reporters ' questions Wednesday about how he learned the chant , but said he now knows that the words he used never should be repeated . `` I 'm also upset and embarrassed that I failed to stand up as a leader and stop this chant . I now have a clear understanding of what lives behind the words , '' he said . `` From this point forward , I will be the leader that I should have been on that bus and stand up against racism in any form . '' CNN 's Faith Karimi , Eliott C. McLaughlin and Justin Lear contributed to this report .
` ` Although I do n't regret it , I want to ask for your forgiveness , '' Levi Pettit says . He was one of two students expelled from the University of Oklahoma over a racist fraternity incident . ` ` From this step forward , I will be the one that I should have been , '' he says .