Students at Virginia Commonwealth University woke up to quite a shock on Dec. 7 as a man holding a sign that read “2018 New Year’s Resolution for Black Guys – Prevent N–a Moments” stood firmly outside of James Branch Cabell Library.
According to students, “sign guy”, identified as 27-year-old Tyler Lloyd, has been notorious for being a disturbance on the university’s grounds on numerous occasions, hence the nickname.
Students released videos and photos of the incident via social media showcasing the crowd surrounding Lloyd. Students and staff are seen in the video to be visibly upset over the racial slur. Lloyd says in one video “You shouldn’t care that I say the word (N-word).”
A VCU police officer was seen standing in front of Lloyd as a way to protect him from the angry crowd.
“These are things you need to learn how to ignore,” the officer said in the video. Many students applauded the officer for his composure during the situation, as one tweet read “I have nothing but respect for these officers.”
VCU PD said in a statement that police “advised the man that he was causing a disruption and asked him to leave VCU property.” Lloyd refused, leading to his initial trespassing arrest. Later on in the afternoon, Lloyd returned with a different sign, leading to his second trespassing arrest of the day.
“Sign guy” by FlashMall”> drives for Uber, according to Lloyd’s Facebook page. One student at VCU tweeted at the driving company:
“He was using free speech as an excuse when that’s definitely hate speech,” Joseph Fluet, a sophomore at VCU who was at the scene, said. “That word (the N-word) is inherently violent because of perpetuated institutionalized racism that white people have previously enforced.”