It was noon. I picked up my bag and was ready to bolt out the door from my 12, when I decided that maybe it was not only time for me to go to my very first rally at Dartmouth, but also time for me to become more vocal about my beliefs. I closed my eyes and imagined myself being the hero of the sitcom who convinces the entire class to skip govy and prance out the door with a renewed sense of activism and purpose. Instead, what came out was, "Umm, isn't anyone else going to the rally?" I heard a few murmurs and something about catching the tail end of it. "Well, if you could," I said waaayy too meekly, "I think everyone should try to make it out there, at least after class." As I left, I heard one of the class members snidely say, "yeah see you there. Fight the power, Natalie." I cringed at the tone of sarcasm in his voice.
What was he talking about, anyway? Just because this was a rally directed against some racist incidents does not necessarily mean that I was trekking out there to fight the power. It seemed to me that the power, in this case, was comprised of students who were going to be at the rally -- that power only needed to be strengthened and reaffirmed. For I firmly believe that the majority of students on campus condemn those who have committed any racist acts. The problem is, many people have yet to decide to stand up and offer support to those being hurt. At any rate, I was not going to fight anything. I was going to demonstrate that those with racist beliefs have no power and are not supported by the majority. Therefore, we do not need to fight. We only need to stand together.
I stood at the front. For one and a half hours, in the cold. It was amazing. In fact, the rally made me feel stronger and made me wish that I had been more assertive about changing attitudes at Dartmouth long ago. Afterwards, as I settled into a seat at the Hop, a friend of mine noticed that I was shivering. "What is wrong with you?" "I was at the rally -- did you go?" "Yeah," he replied, "for a little bit. I wasn't that impressed. I thought a lot of the speeches were pretty repetitive ..." I could not believe it. THAT'S NOT THE POINT. DON'T YOU GET IT? I wasn't there to analyze writing ability or originality. In the first place, how could the speeches possibly not have been redundant? There was basically only one message that could only be reiterated over and over: we need to unite and we need to feel love and understanding for our fellow Dartmouth students. The exact wording or style of the speeches didn't matter: every single speaker kept my attention for the entirety of their speech. For with every speech, a very new feeling was growing within me. A feeling that yes, I do belong to this community, and that yes, we are all together in this experience called Dartmouth College.
Later on, another friend remarked that the rally was "good," but, unfortunately, "the people that needed to be there weren't there." I believe the very opposite is true. The rally was not organized for the sole purpose of chastising the people who were involved in the acts of hate. By now, those people should know that they are not supported by the majority of the Dartmouth population. The purpose of the rally was to bring us together, and stress the fact that we, as students at Dartmouth College, need to begin to take responsibility for the welfare of the Dartmouth Community. Everyone that was there did, indeed, need to be there.
And to the comment I heard that after a week of meetings, columns in the D, and even a party in Webster Hall that screamed the same theme, that this whole notion of building a community at Dartmouth was becoming a cliche, I can only respond that I wish it were true. I wish that the concept unification at Dartmouth were so ingrained in our heads that we didn't even have to stop to think about them anymore. Unfortunately, that is not the case. This is our place: we need to begin to feel a responsibility for it and build it into the most understanding and loving place possible. That is the message I received from the rally.
