A “White Lives Matter” event scheduled for Texas A&M University next month has been canceled by the school after a similar “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville resulted in the death of one demonstrator and dozens of injuries this weekend.
The Sept. 11 rally organized by former Texas A&M student Preston Wiginton and featuring controversial alt-right figure Richard Spencer has been canceled by the school over safety concerns after consultation with law enforcement, administrators said Monday.
“Texas A&M’s support of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech cannot be questioned,” the school said in a statement. “However, in this case, circumstances and information relating to the event have changed and the risks of threat to life and safety compel us to cancel the event.
Mr. Wiginton, a former A&M student, announced on Saturday he’d rally with Mr. Spencer at College Station next month “to protest the liberal agenda of White Guilt and white genocide that is taught at most all universities in America.”
“Today Charlottesville Tomorrow Texas A&M,” he said in his announcement.
The school said that none of it’s more than 1,200 campus organizations had invited him.
Both “White Lives Matter” participants reacted to the cancelation by suggesting the possibility of pursuing legal action against Texas A&M.
“They violated our First Amendment rights. Whites are now in the 1960s. Do we have to sit in the back of the bus?” Mr. Wiginton told HuffPost.
“They are worried there will be violence associated with this. You cannot suppress free speech on that basis,” Mr. Spencer told The Houston Chronicle. “This could get interesting. … Their argument is very weak,” he added.
Mr. Spencer, the president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think-tank, had been slated to speak during Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. But the demonstration was cancelled by Gov. Terry McAuliffe as it descended into violence.
An Ohio man identified as an “Unite the Right” participant drove his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring 19 others. Two state police officers, meanwhile, were killed in a helicopter crash while monitoring Saturday’s events.
“Charlottesville was mishandled,” and “if the alt-right were allowed to speak and peacefully assemble, there wouldn’t be anybody dead today,” Mr. Wiginton told HuffPost on Monday.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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