UVA Alumni Launch #TakeDownHate in Aftermath of Charlottesville

[BLANK_AUDIO] What was the climate like in Charlottesville while you were a student there? Absolutely, when I was there, first of all I just want to say looking back now I see how How great my experience was. One thing was [UNKNOWN] support. My entire time there was always a supportive environment for me, for our community. Yes there were racial tensions, yes there were events that may have happened. We were We weren't in Virginia, but we weren't having it then. And we aren't having it now. But did you ever have any specific encounters, any personal encounters with racism while you were- I mean, nothing overt to me. And of course, the microaggression will always be present of being a black student, trying to succeed. Yeah. And Some type of racial tension may be there with me, but as a personally I never had anything specific happen to myself. So I'm sure it's even more saddening to see it. Now, as an alum, you're leading the #takedownhate campaign, which encourages people to really speak out against racial hatred and violence on social media. How do we get involved in that? How do people get involved in your campaign? Absolutely So right now we're working with the hashtag. We want you to just share your experiences whether you went to the university or not. We want you to just think about the safety of our students. And our faculty and staff and also think about your own experiences within your own college universities. This could happen, it happened in our backyard now. But it could be in your backyard tomorrow or the next day. We do know that there are some alt right movements still happening across the country. Some have been shut down. Like in Texas AMU, things like that. So we just want to make sure that we're providing a platform for others to think about how they can help their own alumni and other and other places. Also tonight we just planned a vigil In Washington DC starting at Thomas Jefferson Memorial at 8 o'clock tonight. Please if you're in the DC area can drive down support us. We are looking for it. It's important to come out and support. Very important, support us and support Heather and the two policemen that lost their lives. We want to make sure that we're a united front for making things better. Mm and thank you for your work. [BLANK_AUDIO]