NBC29De-Stereotype Day at UVA

De-Stereotype Day at UVA

The University of Virginia continues to work on fixing race issues on grounds. They have dealt with housing, and political cartoons, and Wednesday, it was stereotypes.

More than 1,500 students walked the grounds in white t-shirts with written messages to defy stereotypes. Their words were different but their collective message was there is more to everyone than meets the eye.

The goal was to get people to acknowledge and talk about stereotypes and hopefully to keep that conversation going. Organizers say some people do not think they are stereotyped, but they say it happens all the time.

Jamin An, chair of Sustained Dialogue said, "When we meet a person for the first time, we naturally, I guess or some people say we naturally make assumptions. And making sure those assumptions go questioned is part of the effort."

Third year student Kadeem Cooper said, "It's a little thing but it makes a difference when everybody comes together to do it."

This was the third year of De-Stereotype Day. Organizers had 1,500 free t-shirts to hand out and they were all gone before 11:00 Wednesday morning.

Reported by Tracy Clemons
See Bio / Email