More chaos of the kind seen yesterday in Charlottesville is feared following the announcement that a white nationalist rally is to be held at Texas A&M University. The event, set for September 11, is being organized by white supremacist Preston Wiginton, who has previously organized several other such events at the university. In December, Wiginton invited the infamous Richard Spencer to one such event. The focal point of the rally is to be the Rudder Fountain, named for General James Earl Rudder, an Army Ranger who led the mission to destroy Nazi artillery at Pointe Du Hoc on D-Day, the Texas Tribune reports. Wiginton said the rally was a protest against “white genocide,” a phrase racists use to refer to diversity.
“The event will be to protest the liberal anti-white agenda which includes white guilt which leads to white genocide”
Wiginton also said the event was not “anti-brown” or “anti-black,” but “anti-liberal.” It is understood the protest will also target specific professors. When asked to supply information on any examples of white genocide, the Battalion reports he could not provide any at the time and said he was a promoter, not a speaker.
A counter-protest is being organized by doctoral student Adam Key, who says the white nationalists should not expect a warm reception.
“White supremacists keep coming to our campus thinking we’re going to support them. Just like the last time they showed up, we want to demonstrate as clearly as we can that their ideas are not welcome here.”
When Richard Spencer spoke at the university in December, several hundred people attended, opposed by thousands of protesters. This time, there will be hope of a similar turnout, with the counter protest, called “BTHO Hate” being organized within hours of the announcement. The organizers have proposed forming a human wall around the rally, preventing the public from being exposed to their message, a tactic used against the Westboro Baptist Church in 2012. According to WFAA , Wiginton, a former A&M student, has recruited a member of the Houston branch of “White Lives Matter,” Ken Reed, and Sacco Vandal of far-right radio station The Right Stuff, whose programming includes a show called The Daily Shoah , a reference to the Holocaust, to speak at the event . Reed’s resume includes protesting outside the NAACP in Houston , when White Lives Matter protesters assembled outside the building bearing Confederate flags and brandishing assault rifles, claiming they wanted to draw attention to “atrocities” committed by “organizations like Black Lives Matter,” according to the Houston Chronicle .
Texas A&M came under fire from conservative bloggers in May when the American Conservative deliberately took Professor Tommy Curry’s words out of context, alleging that he was advocating the killing of white people. The matter has been thoroughly debunked by Snopes .
[Featured Image by Liero/iStock]