Kyle Bristow, the former chair of Michigan State University’s Young Americans for Freedom (MSU-YAF), has written an article (appearing on the racist American Renaissance website) explaining why a planned speech by Jared Taylor–a prominent “scientific racist”–was unexpectedly cancelled. In it, Bristow explains that the national Young Americans for Freedom threatened to revoke the Michigan State University chapter’s charter if it hosted the talk:
“First, the National Young Americans for Freedom, which serves as the umbrella organization for all campus YAF chapters, threatened to revoke our YAF charter if the talk went forward. Chairman Erik Johnson’s excuse was that YAF does not officially recognize multi-culturalism as a threat to the United States….
National YAF was adamant: We were not to host Mr. Taylor. If we defied National YAF and sponsored the talk anyway, we would have lost our YAF charter and would no longer have been an official student organization with the right to host events on campus.”
Bristow also cited pressures from the University:
“We had scheduled Mr. Taylor’s talk for Wednesday, March 19. Suddenly, the university told us that date was impossible. It had been understood from the beginning that the talk would require police security, and the university claimed security would be possible at only one lecture hall–and that hall had become mysteriously unavailable that day.”
“On Thursday, February 21, the student government of Michigan State University approved a bill requesting the university to define the supposed difference between “hate speech” and free speech. This craven move resulted directly from the lectures my group has sponsored, and is intended stop speakers the leftists do not like. It is not certain whether the university will establish “hate speech” guidelines or how they would be implemented. In a sane world, the student government would be censuring people who violently disrupt meetings, but it instead wants to do the protesters’ work for them by preventing the meetings in the first place.”
He also cited the possibility that protestors would have disrupted the speech:
“The cancellation may well have spared Mr. Taylor a certain amount of unpleasantness. Many of our events have been violently disrupted by left-wing students…”
“I have no doubt that if Jared Taylor had spoken at MSU, he would have faced similar opposition and disruption. Various leftists including Students for a Democratic Society were already announcing plans to do everything possible to prevent Mr. Taylor from delivering his talk.”
Of course, Bristow’s letter was filled with his usual insults and racist statements. He again criticized La Raza and MEChA, charging that they have engaged in violence at past events sponsored by Young Americans for Freedom. Bristow concluded by stating that the protestors’:
“…brutish tactics reflect their brutish natures. They are the best possible demonstration of the very point Mr. Taylor had intended to make: that multi-culturalism is a serious threat to what is left of Western Civilization on this continent.”
Interestingly, Bristow says that he has passed the information on to “a local activist” who may arrange a speaking engagement for Jared Taylor:
“Mr. Taylor may yet come to Lansing, however. I have passed his name on to a local activist who arranges talks in the area, and I understand discussions about a possible lecture have already begun.”
Jared Taylor has spoken in Lansing before. In August of 2007, he spoke at a conference hosted by the Michigan Council of Conservative Citizens. That conference was organized with the help of “Evan Thomas,” a racist activist who attended the Nick Griffin speech that Young Americans for Freedom hosted in October of last year.
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