The Mesa County Democratic Socialists of America is promoting what they hope will be a massive, peaceful protest against fascism and white supremacist Jared Taylor’s appearance at Colorado Mesa University. Jared is scheduled to speak at 6:00 p.m. on March 27 in room 213 of the University Center.
Below is the press release about the event:
Denton County TX, mugshot of attorney Jason Lee Van Dyke, who will be at CMU. He was accused of interfering with a witness in a pending criminal case. He was suspended for six months, followed by one year of probation.
A large crowd is gathering on 12th and North at Colorado Mesa University corner on March 27th at 4:00 pm to march peacefully to the CMU University Center to protest against racism and Colorado Mesa University (CMU) President John Marshall’s decision to platform the avowed fascist and white supremacist Jared Taylor. Organizing for the protest is being led by the Mesa County Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (MC-DSA), in solidarity and in coalition with other grass-roots organizations, student groups and community members.
Jared Taylor in 2008 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
MC-DSA, the student body and local community at large are strongly opposed to Jared Taylor being allowed to speak at CMU. “It’s up to everyday people to keep their communities safe,” says Nikoli Weir, CMU student and Organizer of MC-DSA. “MC-DSA firmly believes that white supremacy and fascism of any kind is dangerous to the freedom and well-being of the working class, and it is especially dangerous to minority groups. MC-DSA is dedicated to doing everything in its power to advance the interests of our community, and oppose fascism in all its forms.”
Isabel De La Canal, CMU student and Co-Chair of MC-DSA, says that CMU’s choice to allow Jared Taylor to speak on campus is hypocritical. “Every school day, I walk up and down the steps of Houston Hall, reading CMU’s messages preaching love, dignity, and courage— most strikingly, ‘use power for good.’ This is the same university that grants white supremacists platforms to spew their hatred. A university is an institution of learning. CMU claims that it wants to model ‘the world we want to create.’ Is this truly the world we want to create? To plaster these words on its walls while allowing white supremacy within them is not just hypocrisy, it is something far worse.”
Kylie Mayfield, CMU student and MC-DSA member, says that she is abhorred by John Marshall’s decision. “I am shocked and disappointed with CMU’s administration. It is ludicrous to me that John Marshall justifies this as free speech, as Jared Taylor’s rhetoric is hateful and is intended to provoke violence.”
MC-DSA is working with local community based organizations to oppose Jared Taylor, who is coming to our town to sow division and breed hatred. MC-DSA wants our community to be strong and resilient in the face of the oncoming wave of fascist agitators and disruptors.
Alongside Jared Taylor, Texas based Attorney Jason Lee Van Dyke is also in town. He represents the Western Culture Club, the student organization responsible for sending out the initial invitation to Taylor. According to the Criterion, CMU’s student newspaper, Van Dyke is also the one who sponsors the event financially. Van Dyke has a long history of representing right-wing extremist organizations such as Patriot Front, who have in the past committed violent acts against peaceful protestors.
Colorado Mesa University President John Marshall poses, smiling, with Lauren Boebert, who supported the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
“Taylor and Van Dyke are here to disrupt our peaceful town and spread hatred and division, bringing white supremacist organizations here on the 27th to cause chaos and violence,” says Nikoli Weir. “Our community cannot let that happen. We must unite around our shared interests as working class people and come together peacefully to oppose Jared Taylor and white supremacy.”
“I am peacefully marching because we are all equal,” says community member and concerned citizen Nick Allan. “The racism and segregation supported by Jared Taylor should have no place in our city, state, nation or world.”
MC-DSA brings together in solidarity the working class community of Grand Junction to oppose fascism and hatred and fosters a multicultural and multiracial socialist movement that fights for the common people against fascists and the billionaire elites they represent.
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And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, “We’re gonna vent our frustration
If we don’t we’re gonna blow a fifty-amp fuse”
Sing it to me, honey
You can’t always get what you want
Have all of you forgotten the First Amendment?
In this case CMU is the government. It is not its decision to make on what speech is acceptable.
Except that CMU is not the government and has no obligation to provide a forum to this man. The First Amendment literally does not apply here. No one is saying he cannot speak. They are saying the college should not give him a place to speak.
“courts have held that when an audience brings someone to campus to speak, the school bears a constitutional responsibility not to interfere.”
especially when it’s a public school that gets taxpayer funding.
I’ve never had any luck posting a link on Anne’s website so you can just Google the quote.
Also, considering Marshall’s opinion of Taylor…he would have refused him, if he’d been able to.
I couldn’t find that specific quote, but in my admittedly brief search, it looks like the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision allows schools to refuse speech that is inconsistent with it’s “basic educational mission”. Since white supremacy is (hopefully) contrary to CMU’s mission, it seems they could have refused Taylor a platform on that basis.
That case was about a school newspaper whose mission was about journalism.
Taylor doesn’t bill himself as a white supremicist. His shtick has to do with western culture (I think). I’m sure he is used to being maligned and thinks all the hubub is amusing.
In fact, he’d probably be disappointed if there wasn’t a big outcry. It would be so cool if someone with a brain was willing to take him on.
Unfortunately there won’t be any coverage of the event unless someone throws a molotov cocktail.
Western culture. Think about that for a second.
Again…I can’t reply because of the way this comment section is set up.
Western culture is a big topic these days. I think I remember a big fat textbook when I was in school titled “Western Civilization”.
I know it is a dog whistle to people like SPLC…which is why I ignore what they say. And organizations like SPLC who feel entitled to pass judgment and blithely call out “hate groups”
are the very reason there is now a backlash.
This always happens. This is not the end of history.
You may not be interested in the subject but I am very interested in knowing why this is such an intriguing issue to many. Feel free to ignore.
Whether or not you do, it is an animating feature to what is going on in our country…particularly white men who feel they have much maligned.
By the way…what does western culture mean to you?
Sounds like a dog whistle for a white supremacist to me.
It will be interesting to see how many white supremacists show up. I’m pretty sure there will be lots of security. It would be nice if one of the local papers would write something up about it.
I just called the college to see if I could attend but they’re full up. It would be nice if there were a decent write-up in the local rag, but that’s doubtful.
CMU -is- allowing the vile, hateful racist to speak; his First Amendment rights are being protected.
So, what are you cryin’ about?
But providing a platform for Taylor is tacitly endorsing what he is saying. That is the problem.
I disagree, obviously…especially at a university.
The best way to counteract his supposedly dangerous thinking is to let the man speak. Are we to suppose these students will never hear something they don’t like…and that the best way to fight against it is to shut up the speaker?
These kids need to learn there are all kinds of people in their world, with all kinds of crazy ideas and that their job is to know what they believe and to be able to articulate it…not expect the people they don’t like to be silenced.
Free speech is just that, free speech. Don’t like the potential message, don’t attend. Or bring in a speaker to counter it. Students should hear all sides and decide for themselves. It’s called adulting.
Interestingly Taylor invited the CMU president to come on stage after he gave his talk.
Marshall refused, saying he had another commitment.
I’d say that was a pretty squishy response and bad role modeling for his students.
Why is this interesting? What would you rather Marshall do? Why? And how is it ‘squishy’ and bad role modeling? It’s not like he denied sharing national security secrets on his phone….
I just think if Marshall was absolutely sure that Taylor’s ideas were vile and dangerous, he owed it to his students to stand up to the guy.
I think in one of his interviews he said Taylor’s views were easy to refute.
I guess some people despise confrontation
and like to think by refusing to confront they are the bigger person. That’s a style a lot of people adopt.
There were at least five attendees (young men) who were prepared and took on Taylor’s ideas. That part was very interesting and I admire that they went.
Looked like a good day for the moderates, including Marshall. Also went well for the protestors. Life will go on until the next battle in Western Colorado. Taylor is polished and would have done a decent job defending himself against claims in this non-panel setting. But nobody asked questions, the classroom was quite empty, and actually quite poorly organized by WCC. I think the kid had starry eyes on getting the call to appear on the Laura Ingraham show.
So interesting…I called the school early in the day to see about attending and was told they were full.
But I did get to listen to a livestream. Taylor’s ideas are more quixotic than dangerous. He wants to go back or go forward to a past or future that never existed and will never exist.
Students should absolutely NOT be given all sides of an issue to decide for themselves. There are far too many sides for that. Should students be taught about aether as a viable alternative to particle/wave duality? Should we teach that the earth might be flat as well as a globe?
Students should be taught the current state of learning. Old, out-of-date explanations should be mentioned only as historical footnotes. And yes, white supremacy is included in that. We fought a world war to decide that one.
his side is not academic nor scientific. There are no decent two sides when one side believes that some “races” are superior to others.
Some of us disagree that ideas like this should be promulgated by CMU. We fought a world war to defeat ideas like this. I realize you have no problem with ideas like this, only with disagreeing with them.
What does he have to say that you are afraid of? Why should an educational institution censor what the students are exposed to? Can we not trust our youth to see for themselves, and make the right decision? Is free speech on the way out?
They’re protesting what he’s saying, that’s not free speech as well?
I agree. If I were a student I’d be interested to see what this fellow has to say and hear it first hand…not just read some Wikipedia summation. It would be like getting to see an exotic animal or locale.
And I wouldn’t be afraid to hear a view that is different than my own. That’s what education is supposed to be about…learning to hone your arguments.
But instead we hide in our echo chambers with the people who agree with us. Too bad.
Should schools teach creationism, aether and flat earth theories and let students decide for themselves as well?
This is not a free speech issue. Taylor is free to say whatever he he wants to say. However, CMU is under no obligation to provide him a platform for that speech, and that is a big part of what is being protested.
CMU is not teaching the beliefs of Taylor. Giving him a forum to say what he believes does not mean what he believes is being endorsed.
In my biology 101 class, the first session was dedicated to spelling out the various creationist theories that exist and the proofs that were being offered by current believers. He was fair and respectful.
Then our teacher went on to spell out evolutionary theory and the fact that the theory of evolution predicts the physical world we inhabit. We were never tested on what we believed.
Unfortunately, Marshall didn’t feel up to debating Taylor. Maybe he doesn’t even know what Taylor’s beliefs are…as probably few of those protesting do. It would have been great if he could have taken up the challenge and actually read what Taylor thinks. It’s probably a lot more nuanced than the name “white supremicist” indicates. And to take him on would have shown courage.
Why are the most vociferous proponents of White Supremacy the absolute best arguments against it?
White supremacy is a tool used to divide people within our democratic society. It resembles Dracula as it raises its centuries old head in our 21st Century. Let s find the stake to put through its heart!