Why Charlottesville?
The university town was once named “the happiest city in America.” More and more, though, it’s the setting for hatred.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.— “We value diversity, equality, and love in this establishment and in our community,” a paper sign read. It was taped to the door of The Pie Chest, a small bakery just off the brick-lined downtown mall in Charlottesville, Virginia. A similar sign—“MINORITY RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS”—was taped to the window of the mall’s Citizen Burger Bar. A banner stretched over East Market Street, right next to the Paramount Theater: “DIVERSITY makes us STRONGER,” it read. “DIVERSITY” was rendered in the colors of the rainbow.
Charlottesville is, like many university towns, a progressive enclave..
