White nationalist’s appearance at university draws hundreds of protesters

Richard Bertrand Spencer, the white nationalist and creator of the term “alt-right” who has gained a measure of notoriety since President-elect Donald Trump’s Election Day victory, filled a 400-seat ballroom Tuesday night at Texas A&M.

But the diversity he shuns was present in large numbers. Many African-American students and students of other nationalities and backgrounds came to hear Spencer’s message and, at times, they responded to him while he was in midsentence.

The number of supporters of the white nationalist leader, mostly white males, some of college age and others much older, appeared to be quite small. When Spencer made a point, only a smattering of applause could be heard.

Meanwhile, on Joe Routt Boulevard, between the site of Spencer’s speech at the Memorial Student Center and Kyle Field, where A&M officials put together a coinciding event called Aggies Unite, a sizable group of protesters marched, holding signs and chanting. Nearly two hours into the event, state troopers wearing helmets pushed the crowd away from the student center building and locked the doors to prevent people from entering.

Inside, the proceedings heated up only once, when an African-American student made his way into the aisle and stopped about 20 feet from Spencer, who was speaking from lectern on a raised stage. He was soon met by a Spencer supporter, and as they stood chest-to-chest, others stood up and converged on the pair. Voices rose and there was a minor scuffle. Spencer looked on with a smile and told everyone to settle down.

Spencer gave a brief history of the evolution of his organization, saying that President George W. Bush is the true founder of the “alt-right” because he knew the country had to move away from his style of Republican politics. He said Trump’s victory was the start of identity politics and created the crack that has let a ray of light shine on Spencer’s views on race.

“Just the fact that Trump said, ‘Great. Make America great again,’ got out a message,” Spencer said. “No matter how vulgar he is, he had a sense of it. It made Trump an alt-right hero.”

Spencer seemed to particularly enjoy bantering with those who oppose him, often mocking them or making fun of their counter-arguments. He told one protester who was dressed like a clown and often paraded on the floor beneath the stage that maybe she would lose some weight. He made fun of another person’s T-shirt.

Mostly, Spencer, 38, urged European whites to stand up and be proud of their heritage. He rarely raised his voice and did not specifically attack a particular race or religion. After a video went viral showing his supporters giving the Nazi salute after he proclaimed “Hail Trump,” Spencer has refrained from anti-Semitic comments.

“Have an identity,” he said at one point during his 45-minute speech. “I don’t need to tell black people in this room to have an identity because you all got it. You know who you are.

“Have an identity. I don’t need to tell that to African-Americans, I probably don’t need to tell that to Native Americans or Indians or Asians, but I will tell that to white people: Have a goddamn identity, have a sense of yourself.”

Several hours before the event, a group of protesters stood outside the student center across the street from Kyle Field.

“The argument is he has the right to speak on campus and our right is to protest peacefully and that’s what it looks like most people are here to do,” said A&M senior Eder Colecio of Fort Worth.

Luke Daggett, 20, came up from the San Antonio area to show support for Spencer because he believes that “international banking and other financial interests have a vested interest in turning humanities, including white people, into interchangeable economic units,” and to promote “national identity.”

Josh Wilkinson, 40, works for the university libraries and came out to denounce Spencer and his views.

“It looks like A&M is their test case on moving into universities. That says a lot about us, so we have to respond in kind,” he said. “We are not the university Richard Spencer thinks we are. We have to make it clear as day to him that Texas A&M isn’t that kind of campus.”

A&M officials say the university didn’t schedule the speech by Spencer, who was invited to speak by a former student who reserved campus space that is available to the public.

This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 12:33 AM with the headline "White nationalist’s appearance at university draws hundreds of protesters."