Dear Editorial Board of the Cavalier Daily,
We are alumni of the University of Virginia, and on Aug. 11-12 we watched with horror as neo-Nazi white supremacists descended on Grounds and then into downtown Charlottesville. We stand with you, University students, as you begin the school term. We urge the University to take all measures to ensure your safety and well-being. We also join everyone in the Commonwealth in mourning the loss of Heather Heyer and two state troopers, Pilot Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, and in praying for all those injured in last weekend’s senseless attack.
This white nationalist onslaught on Grounds and tragedy in downtown Charlottesville emanated from a rally against the City of Charlottesville’s decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a public park. According to a 2016 Report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 1,503 Confederate symbols in public spaces, including flag displays, holidays and other observances, schools, highways, parks, bridges, counties, cities, lakes, dams, roads, military bases and other public works. The Report states that these celebrations of the Confederacy include some 718 monuments, 109 schools, 10 military bases, 80 counties and cities and nine holidays. This must end, we are a democracy.
Supporters of Confederate symbols on public property claim that such displays represent this nation’s heritage and history. Their claim, belied by the fact of slavery, dismisses this nation’s African American heritage. Tens of millions of our forebears were stolen from their homelands and condemned to lifelong and generational forced-labor, rape and dishonor. Confederate symbols do not represent this nation’s heritage and history; they instead represent the immoral and inhumane treatment of generations of African Americans, a history we must transcend if we are to be one nation.
The whole world looked on in horror as a parade of neo-Nazi white supremacists, holding torches and chanting racist and anti-Semitic slogans, encircled what appeared to be a dozen peaceful University students on Grounds the night of Aug. 11. The white supremacists’ parade past the Rotunda and down the Lawn caused more alarm, as did the next day’s fatal violence against counter-protesters, many of whom were peace-loving Charlottesville residents. The ideals and symbols of white supremacy are vestiges of our country’s history of slavery, and thus incompatible with democracy. Democracy requires equal respect among her citizens.
University students, please know that we as alumni have stood where you stand now — at the door of a great institution seeking wisdom and knowledge. We are in full support of your right to pursue a broader understanding of our world without fear for your safety and security, and that of your Charlottesville neighbors. With that in mind, we implore the University to do everything possible to keep each and every one of you safe and secure from harm in the weeks ahead.
“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”
— Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, Monticello, Aug. 1, 1816
Sincerely,
Edward T. Rhodes, Jr., CLAS 1985
Prof. Anthony Paul Farley, CLAS 1984
Sandra M. Smith, M.D., CLAS 1983
Lisa Wilson Edwards, CLAS 1984, LAW 1988
Mikki Cottet, CLAS 1985, LAW 1988
Imani Ellis-Cheek Sy, LAW 1988
Prof. Julian A. Cooke III, LAW 1988
Pamela L. Shavers, COM 1984
Winkfield F. Twyman Jr., Esq., CLAS 1983
Gregory Dyson, MBA, 1986
Russell B. Logan, SEAS 1984, MBA, 1989
Honorable Eric C. Taylor, LAW 1988
Colonel Tonja Custis Brickhouse, CLAS 1982
Leslie W. Kingslow, MD, FCCP, CLAS 1984
Prof. Kenneth Williams, LAW 1986
Lynn Blasingame Olmert, CLAS 1986
Ivy Wafford Duke, CLAS 1990, LAW 1993
Roberto V. Duke, SARC 1987, GARC 1989
Rev. Ginger James Watson, LAW 1988
Jandie Smith Turner, SEAS 1989, MBA 1993
Sheila J. Mosee, M.D., CLAS 1986
Kevin J. Suber, SEAS 1986
R. Todd Harris, CLAS 1985
Dr. Psyche Williams-Forson, CLAS 87
Sarah Nixon Clarke, CLAS 1985
Rhonda Fox, CLAS 1985
Barbara Wadley-Young, PhD, CLAS 1983
J. Logan Anderson, CLAS 1983, GSAS, 1985
Brian B. Godwin, CLAS 1984
Dallas Grahame Kingsbury, LAW 1989
Carla Barnes Warrick, CLAS 1985
Maria Leonard Olsen, LAW 1988
Gina Terry, SEAS 1988
Renate Yarborough Sanders, CLAS 1986
Louis Anderson, CLAS 1985, EDUC 1988
Chairman, UVa Black Students Alliance, 1983-1985
Joanne Beauvoir Brown, CLAS 1986
Cheryl Lewis Fuller, CLAS 1985
Dr. Stephanie A. Royal, CLAS 1986
Foster Brooks, CLAS 1980, MBA 85
David Killalea, LAW 1985
Bricena Chandler Belle, CLAS 1980
Tracy M. J. Colden, LAW 1988
Lauren Pattani-Wright, CLAS 1991
Daria Torres, SEAS 1996
Terri A. Carter, CLAS 1984
Linda Hildreth, LAW 1988
Endi Piper, CLAS 1993, LAW 1998
Marjorie Boursiquot, SEAS 1996
Tierney T. Fairchild, Ph.D., D 1994, GSAS 1996
Annette K. Ansong, M.D., CLAS 1998
B. Kaye Hayes, MPA, CLAS 1985
Yolanda Beasley, CLAS 2011
Bryon Grant, CLAS '93
Tameka Nachelle Simmons, CLAS '99
Raynelle Deans, SEAS 2003
Geoffrey R. Henton, CLAS 1983, COMM 2004
Vincent Harrison, Sr., CLAS 1988
Denyse Dillon, Esq., CLAS 1986
David Harris, CLAS 1980, LAW 1983
Jamila Wyatt Frone, CLAS 1995
Jasmine Jefferson, CLAS 2011, BATT 2012
Brion Ozim, CLAS 1993
Nancy L. Walsh, LAW 1988
Robert E. Branson, CLAS 1980
Christine McCarey, CLAS 1991
Gaby Wilson, CLAS 2010
Hooshere Bezdikian, CLAS 1997
Sophie Dougadir, CLAS 2011, M.Ed 2017
Bryn K. Johnson, CLAS 1997
Jessica Huff, CLAS 2010
Lisa Sechrest-Ehrharadt, CLAS 1982
Kendra Grinnage, CLAS 2010
Hallie Groff, CLAS 2010, SARC 2010
Cheryl Wilson, CLAS 1992, MBA 1998
Christine V. Davis, CLAS 1993
Erika Pearson, COMM 2000
Mona Brown, CLAS 1987
Montina J. Anderson, CLAS 1991
Tamia Rashima Jordan, CLAS 2000
Jennifer Wade, SEAS 2001
Amanda Reid, SEAS 2011
Megan Hoak Khan, CLAS 1995
ArDonna Hamilton, CLAS 2013
Kindra Hill, CLAS 2014
Maya Wright, CLAS 2015, MPH 2016
Serena Fill, CLAS 1997
Ariana Moledina, CLAS 2013
Rick Mattingly, GSAC 1984
Valerie Pressley, SEAS 1984
Aaron Spence, EDUC 1994, 2003
Jeanne T. Anderson, Esq., CLAS 2000
Jasmine Drake, CLAS 2013
Zoe Bellars, CLAS 2014
Erin O. Mattingly, EDUC 2008
Jordan Fowler, CLAS 2014
Karen Swartz Harris, SARC 1984
Wendi E. Hill, CLAS 1986
Leigh Sessler, CLAS 2007
Dr. Deborah L. Stroman, EDUC 1982
Rabbi Philip Rice, CLAS 1992
Richard Payton, SEAS 1985
Nannearl LeKesia Brown, SEAS 2012, 2015
Jennna Pastuszek, CLAS 2009
Antoinette M. Jackson, Esq, CLAS 1984
Dr. Candice E. Brooks, CLAS 2000
Danielle J. Burks, CLAS 1992
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