Emory student Tara Firestone was shocked when she saw what had happened on her campus Monday morning. As she was walking to class she happened to have passed by the fraternity house of the Kappa Alpha fraternity when she noticed 2 more swastikas had been spray painted on their property. Shocked and frightened she couldn’t believe this would happen to her, even less when prior to that morning, Sunday, she witnessed the incident at the AEPi fraternity house.

Hungry for change and demanding of action, Tara Firestone decided to join fellow classmate Blake Mars as she felt a responsibility to speak out. Tara stated:

“As a freshman at Emory University and beginning a new chapter of my life, I am striving to get involved as much as possible with Jewish life on campus. Since the beginning of the school year, I have been to the Chabad house for every Shabbat and holiday meal. This independence has given me a newfound sense of my Jewish identity. This past weekend, after experiencing Yom Kippur in a new environment, away from home for the first time, I have felt so in touch with my Judaism. Yesterday, however, swastikas were found a short walk away from my dorm on the KA and AEPi fraternity houses. Just a few short months ago I was in Poland on the March of the Living, bearing witness to the atrocities and inhumane acts that came from extreme hatred. Although Hitler was not the first to use the swastika, due to the Nazi party’s effective use of the symbol, the swastika has come to represent the mass murder of millions of people. I thought I had to travel thousands of miles away from home and nearly one hundred years back in time in order to experience such anti-Semitism, but this is occurring just steps away from my new home.

It is frightening and horrifying to think that actions like these are still occurring today and it is up to our generation, the last generation to interact with Holocaust survivors, to pass on their message. We must stand together against bigotry and hatred before it escalates into something uncontrollable. This act of discrimination has definitely been eye opening. I am not writing to spread hate against the perpetrator, but rather to show what such hatred can do.”

Tara along with her peers were shocked to see what happened. Urging students in college campuses across the country, Change the Brand along with their Emory contributors would like to challenge college students across the country, regardless of religious denomination, to show their support and stand up against the horrible acts of not only  anti-Semitism, but any form of bigotry and heinous hate crimes. Do so by sending pictures of you and your friends speaking out on your college campuses. Submit these photos to share@changethebrand.com so the world can see what you are doing to contribute to this great cause.