1 Paige Greene
Community members rally at The Rock
Members of the UT community gathered around the rock on Feb. 9, 2018 to rally against racism. Stu Boyd II / The Daily Beacon
Volume 135 Issue 9
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Copy Editor The UT community stood together at United at The Rock Friday afternoon to decry racism on campus. The event, organized by the UT Campus Ministry Council and sponsored by the Student Government Organization (SGA) and the Faculty Senate, began at 3:30 p.m., with a candlelight vigil at 5:30 p.m. Students were invited to leave their handprints on a freshly-painted orange backdrop on the Rock. By the start of the vigil, the handprints had covered the face of the Rock and wrapped around its back. The event was organized in response to the recent campus activity of the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP), a white supremacist group led by Matthew Heimbach. In the past months, the Rock has been painted with messages such as “White Pride” and “Equal Rights 4 Whites,” and Heimbach recently scheduled a lecture on UT’s campus to kick off a “National Socialism or Death” circuit. Professor and head of sociology John Shefner spoke to the group’s intent to target campuses as places to disseminate its propaganda. “There’s a lot of folks, a lot of millennials, who are thinking about politics in new and different ways,” Shefner said. “Some are thinking about politics in progressive ways … This generation is the most accepting of diversity. But this generation is also, I think, in many ways, increasingly frightened for their economic well-being. I think that’s the piece that the TWP is trying to emphasize. That’s what they’re trying to recruit for … people who feel vulnerable.” TWP’s actions have drawn criticism and outrage from students and faculty alike, many of whom came together at the Rock to express their condemnation of hatred on campus. Chancellor Beverly Davenport made an appearance to assure the audience that TWP’s rhetoric would not be tolerated on campus. “Their (TWP’s) fear and their fear-mongering and their views are not winning the day,” Davenport said. “We will not let them make us afraid. We will not let them make us back down.” Asante Knowles, senior in psychology and philosophy, suggested that United at the Rock was a demonstration of love in the face of TWP’s hatred. “When people come together for hate, it tells me people are only hurting,” Knowles said. “We are here to show that love will always heal. Love is not just to erase hate but to heal hate.” Other students, however, were less satisfied with the community’s response to racism at UT. Akia Lewis, freshman in pre-professional, said the event was only a start and that deeper and more frequent discourse about race is necessary to combat groups like TWP. “The white supremacist group … that problem happened this week. That’s not the problem we see every day,” Lewis said. “We should not be leaving here today feeling good after this. This didn’t make me feel good.” See Rally on Page 2
Monday, February 12, 2017