Capilouto condemns white nationalist rhetoric in campus-wide email
Multiple people were injured when a vehicle plowed into pedestrians in downtown Charlottesville, Va., following confrontations between alt-right followers and liberal activists on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. (Albin Lohr-Jones/Sipa USA/TNS)
August 13, 2017
UK President Eli Capilouto sent a campus-wide email Sunday in response to the white nationalist events taking place in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In its entirety, the email read:
“The University of Kentucky has made clear in our words and deeds that ours is a community of belonging for every race, ethnicity, religion and identity.
Everyone will be respected and safe.
Those who traffic in hate, bigotry and violence will find no welcome or refuge on our campus.”
The violence in Charlottesville has lasted all weekend, beginning Friday night with a rally on and near the University of Virginia campus. White nationalists marched with torches in hand, according to ABC News.
On Saturday, a planned “Unite the Right” rally continued the clashes between white nationalist groups and those protesting against them, according to CNN.
The group came to Charlottesville in response to the city’s taking down Confederate memorabilia.
The violence culminated in three deaths: one civilian woman and two police officers.
Suspect James Alex Fields Jr. of Ohio allegedly drove a Dodge Challenger into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others.
Two Virginia State Patrol troopers died in a helicopter crash on Saturday, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M.M. Bates. The cause of the crash is being investigated by the Department of Justice and the FBI, but the helicopter was monitoring the events when it crashed, according to CNN.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe denounced the white nationalists and called for them to leave first the city, then America.
“Let’s be honest, they need to leave America, because they are not Americans,” McAuliffe said, according to CNN.
McAuliffe had the National Guard on standby since before Friday night’s events, according to ABC, and he eventually declared a state of emergency.
President Donald Trump condemned “in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides” in a statement that many saw as not harsh enough toward the white supremacist groups.
“Unite the Right” organizer Jason Kessler blamed the violence on Charlottesville law enforcement, according to CNN.
