On September 12, the division between students, professors, and members of the Charlottesville community widened significantly as protesters mounted the Thomas Jefferson statue, covering it in a black shroud and bombarding it with banners and signs of hatred towards the symbolism they believe it portrays. This event has been covered on many respected news outlets including the Washington Post, BBC News, and Fox News. These articles are informative and explain the reason behind the actions of these radicals, but what they do not convey is the emotion and aura that surrounded this event from the words of students who watched in awe of their founder being defaced. Many of my fellow students as well as myself were present during this protest and the reaction is much more disheartening than it is being portrayed.

It was around 9 p.m. when I received a notification on Facebook about a live video being streamed from one of my good friends, Tanner Hirschfeld. I then opened the app and pulled up the livestream to see a figure drenched in an all black fabric, people gripping signs with words I couldn't clearly make out, and the marvelous Rotunda towering in the background. Curious as to what the situation entailed, a few of my roommates and I began to head toward, what I realized was, the Thomas Jefferson statue.

For a bit of context, this event follows the events on August 12 when a "Unite the Right" rally led by white nationalists marched through the City of Charlottesville to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in the park that was named after the Confederate general before being changed to Emancipation Park. The event led to violence and was declared a state of emergency by Terry McAuliffe about two hours before a man named James Alex Fields Jr. rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters injuring many and killing a woman named Heather Heyer. President Donald Trump later gave a statement addressing the radicalism on both sides and stated, "We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together." His statements were followed with harsh criticism where many believed he was in the wrong to compare radicalism on the left to neo-nazis and white supremacists on the radical right. This raised many questions regarding radicalism on both sides and whether or not it is plausible to compare. September 12 added more fuel to this argument.

Continuing with the more personal story, we arrived at the protest as the atmosphere seemed intentionally dark and eerie. Many protesters were wearing dark clothing, some were sitting on the statue that they had just covered in the black shroud, and many were holding hateful signs. In the beginning, the protest was fairly standard. Many of the chants included black lives matter, chants about DREAMers, and about justice. It was obvious that the protest was about the removal of the Jefferson statue on the basis that he owned slaves, was a propagated white supremacist, and accusations about him having forced sexual relationships with some of his slaves, particularly Sally Hemmings. I had heard plenty on this subject, of course going to the University of Virginia, which was magnified after the events on August 12 with many students and professors being incredibly opinionated. My ears were accustomed to this kind of dialogue. It was what was said later that cemented fear within us.

(Picture taken by myself during the protest)

One female protester, who was one of the organizers of the event, grabbed the megaphone and managed to silence the deafening group. At that moment, she handed the megaphone off to another protestor who passionately stated, "I just want to remind you that the people standing right now, they're f---ing students. They're watching us because they don't believe. Some of them are f---ing white supremacists. At College Republicans. At Turning Point." At that point, the videographer, Tanner Hirschfeld, shouted, "Are you kidding me? You're going to call us white supremacists?" In response, a woman yelled, "Does it look like we're kidding?" Following this interaction, another girl screamed, "Stop staring and do something or get the f--- out!" About ten minutes later, another student who had climbed the Jefferson statue and grabbed the megaphone stated, "It doesn't even make sense why you would get mad that Thomas Jefferson, who was a known racist, and rapist, slave owner, why you would want to honor him?" This was followed by the most divisive and hateful comment of the protest. A female student then screams, "Because you are just like him! And if you are staring at us, then you are just like him!" This comment was followed with various emotions from both sides. Those in favor continued to shout and scold those on the perimeter while those watching were overwhelmed by the comment. One student even stepped forward in an attempt to share his opinion and was shouted down and wasn't allowed to speak by the protestors. One aspect of this whole situation that was even more demoralizing was that professors stood and agreed with these claims as we were being harassed simply for being curious about the situation.

At this point, I was in complete disbelief and couldn't help but feel anger for this group of people who had just labeled me as a racist, a rapist, and a white supremacist. These are the students and professors who I walk by each day throughout the campus who have just confessed their hatred and idea of me simply because I am part of organizations (College Republicans and Turning Point USA) and watched their protest. In no way, shape, or form and I any of those labels stated previously as is true for those I was with and I'm sure is true of other students and community members who were watching. These were blatant, hateful comments directed at those who disagree. That is not the university I matriculated in. I asked a few students who were also onlookers similar to myself how they felt about the comments made by this hateful group. One student, John Grady, said, "It was very disappointing to see the group, mostly made up of students, unwilling to engage in any sort of open discussion and blatantly labeling onlookers as "white supremacists." Tanner Hirschfeld also commented on the subject stating, "I'm all in for ending racism, but this protest went about it in all the wrong ways." He went on to say that he felt "frightened" for his own "personal security" Tuesday night as agitators surrounded him, bumped him, and screamed in his face. Hirschfeld felt all of it was worth it to stand up for what he thought was right as he said, "I'm just happy that I can be a voice of reason during a time like this. We have to get back to a place of reason and civility."

This sense of fear that resonated throughout the groups and those watching who were verbally attacked continued on into the next day. Many students who were present during this offensive protest organized an event to be held at the statue where the values of civil discourse and community were the heavy focus. It was an incredible event that highlighted the idea that it is possible to come together as a community without fear mongering and harassment. Students of all beliefs and organizations attended this event to talk about the previous night's events and communicated ideas to fix the divisiveness within this community. We are all against white supremacy or supremacy of any race for that matter. Blatant labeling and hatred is not the correct way to convey a message and should not be encouraged. What should be encouraged is the ability to have a conversation with those whom you disagree with and to be able to come to sufficient conclusions. The strongest protest against these radical groups, including groups on both sides, is to coalesce rather than continue to alienate groups and people. Charlottesville has been given this divisive label and it is up to us as a community to combat that ideology and show that Charlottesville is the beautiful, cohesive, accepting community that we all know it truly is, not that it is being portrayed to be. At the end of the day, we're all Americans, and we need to start acting like it.

Below are pictures of the event that was held the following day.