Lenoir Rhyne University is a small Lutheran University in Hickory, North Carolina. The campus is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). On Friday, March 11th when word was received that trump’s campaign had accepted an invitation to LR’s campus many student’s, town citizens, and ELCA members were quite upset with the campus. It was not long until the campus released a statement informing the public that they had extended an invitation to all candidates.

I was born in Hickory. At a hospital just a block over from Lenoir Rhyne. I spent my entire childhood in a house less than two miles from LR and am a member of the ELCA church. When I heard that Donald Trump was going to be speaking at LR I was very surprised. Members of the ELCA as well as LR students immediately expressed their concerns to the University for hosting this particular candidate. Lenoir Rhyne quickly released a statement informing the students and community that they had extended invitations to all of the presidential candidates and Trump’s campaign happened to accept. Students, community members, and church members were all concerned with the presence of a Trump rally in our town and on one of our campuses. The news was full of the violence that Trump has encouraged at his rallies.

I arrived at LR at 9 in the morning on Monday to see what was going to unfold. When I arrived there were thousands of people! A long line began at the doors of the P. E. Monroe auditorium, where he was scheduled to speak at 10am, and extended down multiple sidewalks and around buildings on campus. Across from the line waiting to get in was a large group of students, community members, LR professors, and pastors. I was quite proud to walk up and join this group of people holding signs that mostly advertise peace and love. I knew many of the ELCA pastors there some of which had travelled from South Carolina and Georgia to join in on standing up for love and acceptance.

I joined a group singing hymns for a while before venturing around to see what was going on. I watched as time went on and some of the Trump supporters began to yell and argue with the protestors...or maybe more appropriately called “love-spreaders.” When the yelling began a line of pastors immediately formed between the two groups. The pastors held the lines and continue singing hymns.

A group of Latinos arrived carrying Mexican flags. When they walked onto campus they were welcomed with cheers and shouts of “Viva la Mexico!” from the love spreading side. One guy was carrying a sign that read “Everybody [loves] tacos” and I do not think there was a truer sign at the rally that day. Of course later on there were some not-so-kind shouts from Trump supporters to the Mexicans to which one of them replied, “We built your houses. We built this university. We would be building that wall.” They were right.

It was a foggy morning so Trump ended up having to land in Charlotte and then drive to Hickory. So...he was almost two hours late. This worried me. I was quite nervous about what would unfold during all of this extra time. Once it was heard that he was going to arrive at the back of the auditorium a group made their way around the building. I followed with one of my friends. It was mostly minority groups. I watched and listened to yelling and chanting. It is something I never thought I would be seeing. It was like all the stuff you learn about in history classes with the Civil Rights movement. My friend and I began to venture into the crowd to see more of what was happening. Suddenly a reporter with a camera came running in next to us. I turned to see what was going on and saw a some people holding up a “Trump” t-shirt that they had caught on fire. A few people then started yelling “feel the burn” or maybe it was “feel the Bern.”

As it got closer to noon the fog had cleared and it was HOT! But, humankind came in clutch and there was a nice young man walking around with water and cups offering it to everyone there. Five points to this guys for restoring some faith in humanity.

I did not go inside the auditorium because honestly I was afraid of what I would see and hear in there. Behind the auditorium there were some speakers that projected the speech. I did not stay to listen to much but what I did hear….made no sense. Trump spent a good ten minutes just talking about saying “Merry Christmas” if he becomes president. Because these are the important things. Nothing on legitimate economics or foreign policy. From what I heard the only thing he is going to do is somehow get Mexico to pay for a wall, have all department store post “Merry Christmas” signs, and...well that was all I heard.

I really thought I was going to lose some faith in humanity that day. Even though I saw some yells of hate and discrimination, I saw a whole lot of love and shouts for peace. Whenever people started yelling at one another multiple people would yell “be peaceful”, “no violence”, or simply just sing hymns between them. It was absolutely beautiful. Yeah, I skipped a few classes to be there and I am so glad that I did. In fifteen years I get to tell my kids about the day I joined my community, church, and country in standing up for peace and love. I finally got to feel like a part of the nation I have lived in for two decades. These are things I cannot experience in a classroom. If you ever get the opportunity to join in on one of these events, no matter what your views are do it. Standing up for what you believe and expressing your right to freedom of speech is one of the best things about this country. Now, GO VOTE!!!!