• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Leadership

Accounts Differ on Why Black Students Ejected From Trump Rally

By
Maya Rhodan
Maya Rhodan
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Maya Rhodan
Maya Rhodan
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 1, 2016, 7:21 PM ET
Donald Trump
Photograph by Mark Wallheiser—Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Everyone agrees that a group of black students at Valdosta State University in Georgia was escorted from a Donald Trump rally on campus Monday. No one agrees on why.

In interviews with TIME and other media outlets, the students say security asked them to leave while they were quietly waiting for the rally to begin.

“We weren’t protesters. We weren’t there to start anything,” Tahjila Davis, a sophomore mass media major, tells TIME. “We’re just a group of students.”

But Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress, who was not in the complex during the incident, said the students were escorted out after cursing.

“Here’s the deal, these kids were—I confirmed this myself when I was on the scene—these kids were in there and at some point started shouting profanity. I think the F-bomb was dropped a few times,” he says.

The incident came as protests at Trump rallies—and the response to them—have drawn increased attention. In recent weeks, protesters have chanted “Black Lives Matter” and “no more hate” at rallies, leading the candidate to call from the stage for their removal. At one rally in late February, Trump said he’d like to punch a protester “in the face.”

But the Valdosta students say they weren’t protesters at all. Davis and two other students told TIME that a group of black students decided to attend the rally, so they got tickets, went through a security check and then stood together on bleachers in the school’s gym. They said they did not chant or bring any signs, although many decided to wear matching all-black outfits.

At that point, the students say security asked them to leave, and they argued that they should be allowed to stay.

Videos from the scene shows several students, mostly black, filing out of the bleachers at the behest of a uniformed officer. In one video, a female student is shown raising her fist in the air in the style of a Black Power salute as her fellow students file out near a stairwell. In another video from the scene, students are seen arguing with a uniformed officer inside the stairwell. In yet another, students and officers are shown outside engaged in a testy exchange about why they were asked to leave.

“We have tickets to the event,” a young woman says emphatically in video from outside the event. “Talk to your administration about this,” an officer retorts. “They don’t listen to us,” another student says.

It’s also in dispute exactly who asked for the students to be removed. Childress, the local police chief, said the students were “asked by the Trump detail, the Trump group, to leave.” Lowndes County Sheriff’s Capt. Stryde Jones tells TIME that Trump staffers told his deputies, who also worked on event security, that they wanted the group escorted out, but he wasn’t able to identify a specific person. “This may be my lack of politics showing here,” he said.

The Trump campaign said “there is no truth to this whatsoever.”

“The campaign had no knowledge of the incident prior to reading these false reports and is still not aware of what took place,” Hope Hicks told TIME via email.

Martin Mulholland, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told TIME its agents were not involved in ejecting the students before the event in Valdosta and that agents do not routinely get involved with protesters as long as they are not causing a safety issue or making threats in violation of federal law. He said decisions about who is not allowed at private events are made by the event’s hosts.

“The bottom line is we don’t [get involved] if it’s a First Amendment thing,” Mulholland said. “The only time that we would remove someone from a site is if there is a threat that violates federal statute. In the unlikely event that it [a demonstration] becomes a safety issue, our agents might help out.”

Childress, the local police chief, said that he didn’t care who asked for them to leave.

“Whoever told them to leave doesn’t matter to me,” Childress said. “They’re twisting it into something it’s not. They’re trying to make it seem like they were asked to leave because it was ‘Black Lives Matter.’ No, they were advised to leave because they were causing a disturbance and they were using profanity.”

“It’s unfortunate it happened, but I will tell you this—when they were told to leave, Mr. Trump had the right,” he adds.

Davis, who was escorted from the rally, says the incident left her feeling scared.

As they were being escorted out, the sophomore says, Trump supporters began chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and throwing racial slurs their way. She and her schoolmates recall hearing “n—–” and “go home” and “get out of here” while they were heading toward the door.

“I was scared,” she says. “A building full of Donald Trump supporters is just crazy when people are shouting outlandish things at you, calling you names when you didn’t do anything. You don’t know if somebody is going to come up and hit you, throw something at you. It’s really terrifying.”

With reporting by Michael Scherer and Tessa Berenson.

This article was originally published on Time.com.

About the Author
By Maya Rhodan
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Leadership

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Leadership

Trump’s 927-page disclosure is just a normal Tuesday for direct indexing and crypto wealth managers
InvestingDonald Trump
Trump’s 927-page disclosure is just a normal Tuesday for direct indexing and crypto wealth managers
By Catherina GioinoJuly 1, 2026
7 hours ago
How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
By John KellJuly 1, 2026
13 hours ago
U.S. Polo Assn. CEO J. Michael Prince
SuccessThe Promotion Playbook
U.S. Polo Assn. CEO was told he wasn’t right for a promotion—so he ‘outworked’ anyone else who wanted the job for 6 months straight
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 1, 2026
14 hours ago
Nikesh Arora, chief executive officer at Palo Alto Networks
SuccessJobs
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
14 hours ago
DHL plane being refuelled at airport by man in high-vis jacket
EuropeAviation
The Iran conflict saw jet fuel prices soar—when you use 1.88 million tonnes a year, how you respond really matters (just ask DHL)
By Sam ForsdickJuly 1, 2026
16 hours ago
I know how Gen Z can survive the ‘jobpocalypse’ because I built an AI company — in 2015
CommentaryCareers
I know how Gen Z can survive the ‘jobpocalypse’ because I built an AI company — in 2015
By Jeremy FainJuly 1, 2026
19 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
22 hours ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
20 hours ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
5 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
17 hours ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.