Published by the Students of Johns Hopkins since 1896
March 28, 2024

Panelists discuss white supremacy at Charlottesville

By VALERIE CHAVEZ | September 28, 2017

A4_left

COURTESY OF JOSEPH COLON The University of Virginia Chaplain spoke alongside Hopkins professors.

Following the Unite the Right Rally that occurred in Charlottesville, Viriginia over the summer, many have struggled to understand the public resurgence of white nationalist groups in the U.S.

On Wednesday, four panelists gathered at the Bunting Meyerhoff Interfaith Center to contextualize the rally within America’s legacy of racism.

The panelists included three Hopkins professors: Lawrence Jackson, a Bloomberg distinguished professor of English and history; Martha Jones, professor of history; and Robert Lieberman, professor of political science and former provost of the University.

The fourth panelist was Rev. Elaine Ellis Thomas, associate director and chaplain of St. Paul’s Memorial Episcopal Church at the University of Virginia (UVA).

She offered a first-hand perspective of the protests in Charlottesville, describing in greater detail the climate of the city and events leading up to the rallies.

A screening of the recent VICE documentary, Charlottesville: Race and Terror, preceded the panel discussion. Campus Ministries, the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) and Student Leadership and Involvement (SLI) co-hosted the event.

The film portrayed the rally from the perspective of white supremacist groups. It also showed footage of clashes between the white supremacists and counter-protestors, including that of a white nationalist driving a car into a crowd, resulting in a woman’s death.

Thomas began the panel by describing what she saw from the white supremacists during the rally.

“They didn’t show up [to talk] about free speech. They showed up to cause violence,” Thomas said. “They were so heavily armed that there was no other intent possible.”

She criticized law enforcement’s lack of response to the threat of violence from the white supremacists.

“At one point during the day, a Klansperson pulled a gun on a group standing in the parking lot of the church,” she said. “The National Guard, police, everyone was standing around. The stories are true. They did not intervene.”

Thomas said that as a religious leader, she felt the need to be present in the community during the rallies despite public officials advising people to stay home. She described providing aid in the form of food, water, shelter and emotional support to counter-protesters.

“By Sunday morning, my congregation was stunned. They said, ‘How could this happen? This isn’t who we are.’ And I had to look at them and say, ‘actually this is Charlottesville,’” she said.

She mentioned that there are few people of color at UVA, saying that African Americans make up six percent of the university’s population and two percent of its faculty.

“It says something about the climate in Charlottesville, where there is no black middle class,” Thomas said. “There aren’t many jobs to have. Increasing gentrification is driving the people of color that are there further and further away.”

Thomas went on to condemn unfair policing tactics and living wage jobs in Charlottesville and she criticized the university for suppressing its history with slavery.

“As people are quick to point out, Thomas Jefferson built his university on the backs of slaves. He is immortalized there as the founder of the University of Virginia, which is celebrating its 200th birthday this year,” she said.

She also criticized the university for failing to act in the interest of minorities.

“It’s one thing to build a dorm and put an African American’s name on it. It’s another to have African-American students live in it,” she said.

Jackson, a Baltimore native, emphasized that Charlottesville is not an isolated incident.

“I’ve been in and through Charlottesville a number of times,” he said. “It was difficult for me to be shocked by what took place.”

When asked what can be done to help counter white nationalism, Jackson expressed the need for people to take action and talk with those who have differing perspectives.

“We don’t have to go far to understand what the crisis and the conflict and what the extreme tension is,” Jackson said.

Jones echoed this sentiment. She reflected on the role of universities in encouraging conversation about social issues.

“Our campuses are, if you will, a ground zero for many of the sorts of questions that are roiling through these scenes,” Jones said.

According to Lieberman, America is not the post-race society that many previously believed it to be.

“Charlottesville and the episode this summer forces us to reexamine our understanding of what it means to say racism in the U.S. is in decline,” he said. “It forces us to ask the question, why are things like this happening in the United States in 2017?”

Jones said that the world will always contain good and evil but that we should persist in meaningful ways.

“Racism in all of its manifestations is a foundational and a permanent dimension of our nation and its politics, its culture, its way of life,” she said.

After the discussion, the panel took questions from members of the audience. Jones discussed the changing role of police.

“What do we think police should have done in this moment?” she asked. “Do we want to enlist them as allies in this moment to help organize space to make sure that everyone can speak and be safe and assemble, or do we think that they’re not legitimate allies today?”

Freshman Jada Campbell asked the panelists if they thought laws regarding police intervention in protests should be amended.

Thomas asserted that although protests may put police in a position where they risk injury to themselves, they have a responsibility to keep people safe.

“If there’s a permit and [police] recognize that there’s going to be violence, then they have to do whatever it is they have to do to make sure that they can maintain the peace,” she said.

Lieberman addressed the how systematic structures disproportionately impact people of color.

“The question we have to ask is do police officers across the country systematically treat left and right or Black Lives Matter versus alt-right protests differently?” Lieberman said.

Campbell further emphasized her disappointment at the lack of legal action, which she felt allowed the violence at the rallies.

“There were a whole series of decisions that weren’t made by the racist protesters but were instead made by people in positions of power,” Campbell said.

Another member of the audience, Leslie Barry, said there has been a rise in violent demonstrations like the one seen in Charlottesville. Barry attributed this pattern to Trump’s presidency.

“It’s always existed and it’s always going to exist, but you didn’t see it in the forefront in the same way just a few years ago, because they knew it was shameful, and they knew they would get backlash,” Barry said. “But now with Donald Trump, who won’t even really condemn them, they feel like they have a platform again and that they can do it more freely and be protected.”


Have a tip or story idea?
Let us know!

Comments powered by Disqus

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.