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USCA students respond to controversial tweet with "Peace, Love, Unity"

Monday, Sept. 26, 2016 News 12 First at Five

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) — “Peace, Love, Unity. One USCA,” the chant ringing throughout campus as USC Aiken students took their stand with a different beat.

“Came out here, everyone knows about the tweet, we’re not out here to be violent, we’re not out here to spread hate, we’re here to unify each other because we’re all one campus, we got to be diverse,” USC Aiken student Shawntel Battle said.

USC Aiken students came together in black clothes for a peaceful protest after this tweet saying, “Black Lives Matter is a joke” and threatening to blow up a high school after a recent rally.

“Everybody was just very concerned about what type of consequences and sanctions that she was going to face and whether we are safe, whether she was still on campus or not,” USC Aiken student Kameo McFadden said, who spoke before the march.

But after recent violence in Charlotte, students wanted to make sure their message was actually heard.

“When violence starts to become the outcome of things that we’re supposed to be peaceful, people stopped listening the original message and they started just viewing the violence,” McFadden said.

So today, no angry shouting or violence, just a march and silent sit in. But Student Body President Shaquanda Ross-Simmons wants to make sure these shouts for peace were met with answers at a private meeting for students and faculty held at 4 PM.

“This is a time for them to ask the people who are making decisions, what is going to happen, what is going on, calm some frustrations,” Ross-Simmons said.

Some students hope one message does not break up their one campus.

“For the most part people see us unifying together and hopefully they can follow the example that we’re trying to lead,” Battle said.

USC Aiken says they are working with campus police and state law enforcement investigating the message.

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Source: News