Darden: After Hate Came To Charlottesville

‘APPALLED, SADDENED AND SICKENED’

When he arrived, shortly after noon, violent clashes had already broken out between club-wielding Neo-Nazis and counterprotesters in Emancipation Park in downtown Charlottesville. But it was about an hour before one of the white supremacists had driven his car into a crowd of pedestrians, killing Heather Heyer of Charlottesville, and injuring 19 other counterprotesters.

A day later, on Sunday, Dean Beardsley issued a statement to the Darden community. “Like many of you,” he wrote, “my family in Europe saw pictures of flames in front of our home on their national news, and the grim images of violence today. I am appalled, saddened and sickened by the racism, hatred, bigotry and violence that have taken place in the wake of the Unite the Right rally and condemn it unambiguously (see Darden Dean Decries Charlottesville Violence).”

The next day, Dean Beardsley and Davidson called together students and faculty to discuss the racism, hatred and violence that had taken place over the weekend. The community discussion included many Darden students who had just returned to the school after summer internships and members of the newest Class of 2019. “This is our moment of truth,” Beardsley told the gathering. “This is our university and our business school. This is our house. Let’s be strong and let’s be Darden.” The session, in a packed auditorium, ended with a large group of students and faculty, their arms entwined, posing for a photo in solidarity.

‘I AM APPRECIATING THE POWER OF COMMUNITY. THE MOOD IS ON AN UPSWING’

“The mood is on an upswing,” says Davidson, after a night vigil that drew thousands who carried candles and sang. “The rally on campus last night was incredibly healing and unifying. One professor called it a reconcentration, a taking back of the Lawn. I am appreciating in a new way the power of community. It’s not merely a community that is coming together in crisis; it’s a community that has always been here, working together and serving us well.”

The university is moving forward, he adds, with heightened awareness and security. “We’re making sure we stay vigilant about what is happening. We’re ultimately maintaining an attitude of strength and optimism, of resilience and of grit. That mindset makes a huge difference and determines how you weather these events.”

Even Davidson himself concedes that he has felt different, even changed, by the events. “At moments. I also felt throughout the week that you are rising to a great challenge. I’m feeling that I could focus in ways that I didn’t think I could. You do it because people need help. The community needs help.”

HOW SAFE? ‘IT’S SAFE BECAUSE WE KNOW THE PEOPLE WHO CAUSED THIS ARE NOW GONE’

Asked if people now feel safe, Davidson says, “it is safe in terms of the larger culture of Charlottesville. It is safe in a sense that police presence has been heightened. It’s safe because we know the bulk of people who came into Charlottesville and caused this to happen are now gone.”

For Davidson, the open display of racism in his adopted home town, however shocking to many, does not represent a step back in time when hooded members of the Ku Klux Klan roamed Southern cities and towns. “One of the scariest moments I had was when Obama won his first election,” recalls the professor who then feared that the election of an African-American President would unleash latent racism across America. “People said, ‘This is so great to have the first African-American as President. And I said, ‘Are you crazy?’ There was hidden racial tension then and it’s now out in the open. In that way, it is comforting. At least you can see your enemy.”

DON’T MISS: DARDEN DEAN DECRIES CHARLOTTESVILLE VIOLENCE