Author: Tyler Cox

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UVA students protest Trump

Protesters gather in front of the Rotunda on Inauguration Day. Photo Ryan Jones

At the same time Donald J. Trump was being sworn in as the United States’ 45th president, University of Virginia students and faculty joined area leaders on Inauguration Day with a call to walk out of class, join a rally on the Rotunda steps and attend walkouts, seminars and teach-ins on Grounds.

Organizers say the event, Mass Prep 1/20, was “to send a message that this inauguration is not a normal event and should not be treated like any other day,” according to its Facebook page, and also to train and mobilize a new cohort of activists and organizers.

Approximately 40 participants at the rally held signs that read “Delete Your Account,” “Keep Your Tiny Hands Off My Rights” and “Don’t Be Cavalier About Your Rights.”

Wes Gobar, a third-year who helped organized Mass Prep 1/20, told the audience at the rally, “[Trump] can’t destroy our democracy unless we let him.”

David Smith, a third-year undergraduate from Richmond who was at the rally, says, “I think protesting is good, but that we need to come together as a nation.” He believes many people are stuck in their own views and are unwilling to compromise.

University groups including Climate Action Society, Queer Student Union, Black Student Union, and DREAMers on Grounds held teach-ins throughout the day. Organizers estimate that between the rally and the teach-ins, 150 people participated in Mass Prep 1/20.

The first seminar, “Active Citizenship and How to Get Involved with Local Politics,” was led by history Professor Brian Balogh, and included Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, who cited Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement as an example of “nonviolent direct action.”

Said Bellamy, “You need to look yourself in the iPhone, get the Snapchat filter or whatever, and ask yourself if you’re willing to fight this fight.” He also warned against boredom and backlash in political office.

Former CBS correspondent Wyatt Andrews led the session, “Confronting Trump with Facts.” He said a lot of Americans are allowing themselves to be ignorant and that Trump operates in a fact-free environment. Andrews urged the audience to continue to use social media to hold Trump accountable.

The day-long event ended around 5pm with an undocumented ally training, which echoed a chant from earlier in the day, “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here!”

Updated 1/14/2017 with the estimate of 150 attendees.

 

 

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Kaine campaigns for healthcare

Senator Tim Kaine says he's optimistic about the fate of health insurance. Photo Eric Swensen

Senator Tim Kaine, fresh on the heels of a losing run for vice president alongside Hillary Clinton, hosted a town hall event with UVA medical students Friday to discuss the Affordable Care Act.

Kaine was recently appointed to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, alongside other heavy hitters such as Rand Paul, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and he joked that this new position was a “consolation prize for winning the popular vote, but losing the bid to be vice president.”

His stop in Charlottesville is one of many in which he has listened and learned from healthcare professionals. And on Sunday he attended a rally against the repeal of affordable care in Richmond.

Kaine told the UVA audience that rural hospitals and reproductive health are most at stake if the ACA is repealed. He described attending a remote area medical project event at the Virginia-Kentucky fairgrounds, and seeing cars from as far away as Oklahoma. Repealing Obamacare without a proper replacement is saying, “I will jump off a cliff and figure out how to land once I’m in the air,” he said.

When Kaine opened the floor for questions, many hands shot up. Sam Kessel, a second-year med student from Massachusetts, asked about prescription costs and what Congress was doing to protect consumers from monopolies like the manufacturer of EpiPen.

Kaine explained that there’s no “all-purpose price control” in government and that some pharmaceutical companies are taking a “patient as hostage model.” He also suggested that President-elect Donald Trump’s deal-making skills could be a good thing in negotiating prescription drug pricing.

Thomas Xiao, a fourth-year from Fairfax, asked about Democratic and Republican cooperation within in the Senate. Kaine said that sometimes he’s a little too optimistic and naïve, but he thinks that some cooperation for a reform instead of a replacement plan or a replacement-repeal at the same time might be possible.

The event ended with Kaine talking to the press and students who still had questions and posing for Facebook and Instagram photos. He and his team then climbed into a salt-smeared station wagon to visit the Boys & Girls Club on Cherry Avenue later that afternoon.

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Civil discourse: Khizr Khan takes the stage at the Miller Center

Khizr Khan spoke at the Miller Center last week about backlash he and his wife received after the Democratic National Convention. Sanjay Suchak/UVA Communications

Khizr Khan and his wife, Ghazala, emerged onto the political stage during the Democratic National Convention in July when Khizr told the story of their son, Captain Humayun Khan, a University of Virginia graduate, who served in the United States Army and was killed in a suicide attack in Iraq on June 8, 2004.

Many of Khan’s emotional quotes from the convention quickly spread throughout the nation, including direct statements to Donald Trump such as, “Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy,” and “You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”

On November 1, Khan visited UVA to talk with the Miller Center’s Doug Blackmon.

The conversation began with a clip from First Year 2017, a Miller Center project about unity and democracy, and featured quotes from former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

After the first video, Blackmon introduced Khan with a short biography: He is a Pakistani immigrant, Harvard graduate and practices law here in Charlottesville.

The second clip, which was produced by Lauren Jackson of UVA’s media studies department, centered on the life of Humayun Khan and showed his character through quotes and stories from those who knew him. Sergeant Lacy Walker said Humayun “was the best leader you could possible imagine.” 

In the clip, Jackson asked the Khans about memories from Humayun’s time at UVA. According to his mother, two young women got into a bidding war to take Humayun out for a charity date night. “He got the highest bid,” Ghazala proudly said. He eventually decided to take both women out.

After the second clip, Khan was obviously filled with emotion. He composed himself and continued the interview, answering questions from Blackmon regarding some of the attacks he and his wife had received since the DNC.

Khan also addressed the notion that he was paid to attack Trump and to join the Clinton campaign.

“I wish somebody would’ve paid me. That would have made me really happy,” he said as the audience erupted in laughter. “When people speak the truth, some criticism is expected.”

Khan also talked about immigrants as a broader group, saying that “all have gone through difficult times coming to the U.S. —Muslims are not different.” He cited those coming from Italy, Ireland and other places throughout our nation’s history. “Your grandparents caught the earlier boat, I caught the later boat,” he said. “We are all immigrants.”

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Graffiti on Grounds: UVA condemns hate speech—again

The latest act of hate speech graffiti at UVA, the word “terrorist” written in pencil outside two Muslim students’ dorm room, is the third this year. Courtesy UVA’s Middle Eastern Leadership Council

Hate speech graffiti has marred the walls of several UVA buildings this semester. The most recent case of vandalism came to light Sunday when graffiti was discovered in Brown Residential College. According to an e-mail sent to students Monday morning from Dean of Students Allen Groves, the word “terrorist” was scribbled with an arrow pointing toward the door of two Muslim residents.

“As a community, we categorically reject and condemn this type of hateful message,” wrote Groves.

Anti-Semitic graffiti was also spotted on the side the GrandMarc apartment building on 15th Street October 23. Students and professors of the Jewish faith have been present at the University of Virginia since the 1800s, and James Joseph Sylvester, the first Jewish professor in the United States, taught here briefly in 1841.

Anti-Semitic graffiti was found scrawled on the GrandMarc apartment building on 15th Street October 23. Photo Michaela Brown
Anti-Semitic graffiti was found scrawled on the GrandMarc apartment building on 15th Street October 23. Photo Michaela Brown

The neon orange Star of David with the German word “Juden” underneath was the same graffiti used in Nazi Germany to mark the businesses of Jewish citizens for discrimination—and worse.

Saskia Feldman, a second-year and member of both Hillel and Chabad Jewish organizations on Grounds, says she was shocked and “didn’t actually believe it” when she first saw the graffiti on social media. “It’s just crazy to think that people feel better by putting others down,” she says.

Second-year Wittney Skigen posted on Facebook: “It is 2016 and things like this still happen. How is that possible? How can someone harbor such hate and such ignorance?”

Her post received nearly 400 likes and 20 shares.

The Office of the Dean of Students, the Brody Jewish Center, the Chabad House, the Jewish Leadership Council and Student Council have all condemned the graffiti in a letter to the university community, calling it a clear example of hate speech. In addition, The Islamic Society of Central Virginia sent out its own statement October 31, saying it “expresses strong solidarity with the victims of the recent discriminatory and hate incidents that have occurred at the University of Virginia. The ISCV also condemns all acts of hate and prejudice and calls upon the local community to peacefully unite in opposing such behavior.”

This isn’t the first time this semester insensitive and hateful graffiti has been used to incite discord at the university. In September, racist messages were written with permanent marker inside the Kent and Dabney dormitories on McCormick Road. The messages included the N-word written on doors and whiteboards across multiple levels of the building, and ignited outrage around Grounds.

The Black Student Alliance released a statement after the graffiti was discovered: “[We] will never tolerate such cowardly, small-minded attempts at vandalism at our university, and we condemn those who would try to discourage people of color from learning and socializing.”

In April, chalked messages were seen on sidewalks around Grounds that targeted both the black and transgendered communities at UVA. One of these messages said, “Confused about your gender? Look down your pants.” Another message referenced the wealth gap by comparing the average IQs of black and white people.

The Black Student Alliance and the Queer Student Union washed away the hateful messages and replaced them with positive messages, such as “Love is love” and “Your black is beautiful” in a mission to reclaim the space.

And in January 2014, “UVA Hates Blacks” was scribbled in chalk on the Elson Student Health Center Sign on the corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and Brandon Avenue.

Groves also denounced that graffiti two years ago: “The university needs to swiftly condemn acts of vandalism when we see them. You don’t want to give more air time to something that’s ugly than it should deserve.”

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Like a voter, for the very first time

Soleil Reed, a 19-year-old first time voter, says immigration, wages and quality of life are issues that matter most to her.

Do you remember the first time you voted? Were you excited? Unenthusiastic? A little scared? As this election grows more dramatic and November 8 gets closer, first-time voters are running out of time to make up their minds. The University of Virginia hosted both presidential and vice presidential debate viewings with turnouts of about 300 and 100, respectively.

Charlottesville has seen about 3,000 more millennial voters registered since January: The rise in number is thanks, in part, to registration efforts by University Democrats and College Republicans.

Meet some of these virgin voters who shared with C-VILLE what issues matter most to them and which candidates they are backing.

Reed_Soleil

Soleil Reed

Age: 19

Key issues: Immigration, wages and
quality of life

Very undecided, Republican

“Low-income students like myself cling to the American Dream,” Reed says. “I do think the American Dream exists, but maybe that’s a silly thing to say. I want to believe in it because I have little choice. I’d like to believe that if you work hard, stay focused and stay on track, you will become successful.” Because of this, Reed believes that capitalism isn’t a bad thing, but if it is unchecked it can be. “There are winners and losers,” she says.

Reed wants to see immigration better addressed and she believes that the slow naturalization process is the main cause of illegal immigration in the United States. A “quicker and more feasible way” to immigrate legally is needed, she says, while Trump’s “extreme vetting” and ban of Muslims entering the country shows blatant discrimination.

“Everyone needs to be taken care of, but it’s not attainable or sustainable.” Reed explains further, “Increased wages means an increased product cost because companies want a profit.”

While confessing ignorance of the tax code, Reed says, “I think a flat tax would be the most fair, equal thing to do. If they are making that money they deserve to keep most of it.”

Lee_Amber

Amber Lee

Age: 23

Key issues: Immigration, foreign policy and support for small business

Jill Stein supporter, Democrat 

Lee is currently in the process of organizing the Young Greens Rising chapter at UVA. Her main reason for voting Green is the protection of human rights.

“Donald Trump wants to bring back torture and kill the families of terrorists,” she says. “Imagine having a cousin who just joined ISIS. Would you want to be killed because of something he did?”

She also targets Hillary Clinton as “barely better.” Says Lee, “While she doesn’t support torture, she still wants to enable Israel to continue human rights violations without negotiation.”

Gary Johnson doesn’t escape Lee’s fire either. “While his gaffes on foreign policy are not deal-breakers, he still supports private prisons, which is a system that incentivizes imprisoning innocent U.S. citizens just for the sake of saving taxpayer money.”

Says Lee, “Jill Stein is the best candidate for human rights.”

Long_Bryan

Bryan Long

Age: 20

Key issues: Environment, equal rights, the economy and foreign policy

Gary Johnson supporter, unaffiliated

Long says of the major party candidates, “Morally, I cannot bring myself to vote for either one of those two clowns.”

He also challenges the mentality that “a third party vote is a wasted vote,” and says, “I find so many flaws with our potential leaders, and I find a much smaller number of flaws with the leaders who many do not even consider a possibility. While I will admit that Governor Johnson’s foreign policy stance is terribly misinformed, his policies concerning this nation’s well-being are less flawed than those of Trump and Clinton.”

“Those two are just too despicable and nefarious to ever vote for,” he says.

Rocha_Daniel

Daniel Rocha

Age: 20

Main issues: Immigration, foreign policy and equal rights

Hillary Clinton supporter, independent

Rocha is a member of UVA’s Latino Student Alliance. “Being a Mexican-American, I’m super offended by Donald Trump’s rhetoric,” he says. “He replaces all of the diversity in Latin America with his idea of Mexico. Illegal immigration is clearly not only [from] Latin America. There are people all over the globe illegally coming into the United States.”

Rocha believes that Trump “brought personal resentment into his political agenda and gets too emotional and personal about issues.” As for his foreign policy, “He doesn’t even try to seem diplomatic,” Rocha says.

The conversation turning to Hillary Clinton, Rocha admits, “One of her biggest positives is that she’s not Trump.” He
describes Clinton as intelligent, strong and open-minded. “She doesn’t put up with other people’s whatever-you-want-to-call-it,” he says, but “she doesn’t dismiss other opinions and is open to hearing the needs of the country.”