About 150 students attended the talk show and although the title was controversial, City said it’s important for people to embrace their race before they can be accepting of others.

“I felt like people were left out of the town hall meeting and it was more tense than it should be,” he said. “It became a black-white thing, and we have to love ourselves and unify first before anything.”

The event included poetry performances, music, and panel discussions about race from students with differing views.

After hearing the topic for the show, supply chain management senior Ralph Paulk offered to perform a poem.

Paulk said he began writing poetry when he was 14 years old and had already written a poem that fit perfectly with the message of the event.

“The poem was about (the) structural racism that does exist that a lot of us are not aware of,“ he said. “If we don’t take action, nothing’s going to change.”

English junior Quran Dearing said the message of acceptance of oneself motivated her to attend the show.

Dearing said students are using the word hate too frequently, without fully understanding the power and violence that can come from it.

“My friends were saying they don’t think this will lead to anything, but this can be that first step,” she said. “We should stick together because self hatred, just hatred period, scares me.”

City said he believes the only solution for the racial tension on campus is to create an open dialogue, and he hopes his show continued the discussion.

“Everybody is creating tension and we need to find a way to decrease that tension,” he said. “Dialogue is going to break barriers down because people are able to see the other side.”