Political candidate calling for ending violence following fight at Charlottesville High School

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Some are calling for action following a recent fight at Charlottesville High School, and a new candidate for the 54th District House of Representatives wants to make that happen.

Bellamy Brown is running on a platform of ending violence in the city, as well as supporting teachers and students.

“I’ve grown up here, I’ve gone through the public school system, you know, from Venable, Walker, Buford, CHS. I’m like, this is my home,” the candidate said Monday, January 30.

Brown says this is a moment for change, referring to an email CHS Principal Rashaad Pitt sent about that fight.

“His request was that the parents, you know, talk to their students and other community, other kids in the community,” Brown said. “That’s a cry, you know, not just, you know, from the leadership, but our students, as well.”

The question is, what does Brown think will fix this?

“When I was growing up, the city had a lot of alternatives to where, you know, we could go to that wouldn’t, that would keep us out of trouble, so to speak. Those alternatives have been scaled back, you know, quite significantly, and I think that’s part of the problem that we’re seeing right now,” Brown said.

Brown says it’ll take a group to make this happen.

“It has to be a collective effort. It’s saving the lives of our to our students and our teachers,” he said.

NBC29 reached out to Charlottesville City Schools for details and its perspective on last week’s fight. CCS declined further comment.

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