The Case Of Charlottesville: Wake Forest Hosts Discussion On Race, Politics And More

Recent protests and violence in Charlottesville, Va., are the subject of a public panel discussion at Wake Forest University on Sept. 7 covering topics like race, politics and the American South.

The event is called “The Case of Charlottesville,” and it features a diverse group of speakers. One of them is Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer. He's been in the national spotlight for his outrage at white supremacists and President Donald Trump's reluctance to call out extremists.

The panel also includes writers from Slate, the National Review, and the executive director of the racial justice organization Color of Change.

It will be moderated by Wake Forest University Professor Melissa Harris-Perry. She's also an author, political commentator and television host.

She says it's important to talk about what happened in Charlottesville in its entirety. 

“We've invited a very diverse panel to come and explore the central issues. Not only what happened, but what happened before," Harris-Perry says. "What does it mean to think about who we are as a community? Who's in, and who's out? I hope that this is a moment of provocation in the best sense.”

The discussion is also the beginning of the Wake Forest University initiative called “Rethinking Community.” Harris-Perry says the major goal of the program is exploring what community means, and recognizing that people define it in different ways. And she feels that universities are a major part of a region's fabric.

"Part of what Charlottesville teaches us, I think, is that universities are never separate from the public sphere," she says. "You can't pretend that your college campus is some ivy-covered space, separate and apart, because eventually the tiki torches will come marching across your front lawn."

With white supremacist groups seemingly more comfortable making their views and actions public, many people point to the current political climate feeding the flame. But Harris-Perry says it started long before the last election cycle.

“The kind of flip answer is that it's President Obama's fault, not President Trump's, in the sense that it really is a response to the anxieties about demographic changes, and anxieties of a loss of potential power, economic strength, and social position that leads to this rise of white supremacist angst," she says. 

She says Americans have some soul searching to do, that we need to open up difficult conversations. 

"That makes it a lot harder, a lot more uncomfortable, and I think ultimately means we can't fix it with a simple November vote," she adds. "It means that what we are doing is probably hating each other in some really powerful and insidious ways."