Auburn University, Alabama: Hundreds Protest White Supremacist Richard Spencer
April 20, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On Tuesday night, April 18, hundreds of people protested white nationalist Richard Spencer who was speaking at Auburn University in Alabama. Inside, people repeatedly interrupted his talk, while protesters outside chanted, "No fascists, no KKK, no fascist USA."
Spencer spouted blatantly racist shit, like describing the university’s Black football players as perpetrating the “sexual abuse of white women on campus” and denouncing affirmative action as victimizing white people. This was met with outrage as people yelled back, challenging him repeatedly throughout his speech.
The university initially cancelled the event, saying it would create unsafe conditions. After a U.S. district judge ruled Auburn had to allow Spencer to speak, the university issued a statement saying it “deplored [Spencer’s] views” but then went on to let the program go ahead as scheduled.
Spencer is president of National Policy Institute—a white supremacist/nationalist think tank that proclaims it is “dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.” Spencer has advocated a "peaceful ethnic cleansing," where people who are not of European descent voluntarily leave the United States. After Trump’s election, Spencer addressed a gathering of the alt-right movement, at which he outright acted like a Nazi, greeting the new Trump/Pence fascist regime—shouting, "Hail Trump!" His talk at Auburn was sponsored by AltRight.com, a white nationalist site and served to rally hundreds of white racists who came to hear Spencer speak.
According to news reports, there were some clashes with police after the cops demanded that people remove bandannas and masks, and three people were arrested for disorderly conduct.
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