Virginia Tech Students Speak Out

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First there was the student who caught the sound of gunshots on his cell phone. Jamal
Albarghouti, whose video was shown on all the networks even became part of the media storm; the civil engineer was patched in to the CNN newsroom to talk about his 70-second clip.

But Albarghouti’s is not the only voice and video out there from the school. MTV has a great compilation of sites where you can find Va. Tech bloggers, discussion groups, school emails, and firsthand news accounts. All from students and members of the school community who are far more in the know about the day’s events than the ever-spectulative media.

My bet is that most of the nation has likely only heard of Virginia Tech, if they’ve heard much of anything at all, for their often-excellent Hokies football and basketball teams. Not anymore, not ever. And with this tragedy (the school’s motto is Invent the Future) will come a transformed community. Because what’s happening now, on this campus, is anything but a game.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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