“Tom Tancredo is not welcome on our campus,” said Ana Maria Reichenbach, a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), at the press conference. SDS, Feminist Students United and other campus and community groups are working together to mobilize students and community members to greet the racist Tancredo with protests when he comes to campus on April 26.

Tom Tancredo was invited to speak at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) by the white supremacist organization, Youth for Western Civilization (YWC). Youth for Western Civilization states that their group exists to “promote the survival of Western Civilization and pride in Western heritage” and calls themselves “the West’s right-wing youth movement.” The Southern Poverty Law Center’s website has cited that YWC has direct ties to known white nationalist hate organizations. Tancredo also has close ties to the right-wing paramilitary Minutemen organization, which has assaulted and killed immigrants in the U.S.

Last year, YWC invited Tom Tancredo to UNC to speak against immigrants, but his speaking event was shut down by energetic, militant protests of hundreds of students, immigrant rights activists, and community members. The students marched to where Tancredo was set to speak, chanting, “Shut it down – no racists in our town!” Some protesters were inside the room where the talk was being held and challenged Tancredo on his anti-immigration views while holding banners saying “No dialogue with hate,” and “No one is illegal.”

Campus police responded by attacking students with pepper spray, threatening them with taser guns and arresting a student one week after the demonstration took place (charges were later dropped).

The protest that successfully shut down Tancredo made national headlines – the Chancellor and the chair of the board of trustees scrambled to apologize to Tancredo. A wave of repression swept the activist community at UNC and the leaders of the protest came under intense pressure by right-wing forces on and off UNC's campus. However, immigrant rights activists across the country stood in solidarity with the student protesters and defended their actions.

Carlos Montes, an organizer from the Los Angeles-based Latinos Against War, and member of the Southern California Immigration Coalition, wrote to the protestors, “Students and young people in the U.S. have historically been in the forefront of the civil rights and peace movements, and we are inspired that you are setting the example by standing in solidarity with the immigrant rights movement.”

Despite Tancredo's well-known racist views, the university administrations are defending Tancredo's scheduled appearance at UNC under the guise of ‘freedom of speech.’ But as a statement from SDS at UNC-Chapel Hill makes clear: “[People] like Tancredo do not speak in a vacuum; they support and mobilize racist and unjust actions against groups they oppose.” The statement continues, “We refuse to be silent or participate in meaningless dialogues while right-wing leaders sweep through our country and attempt to steal our human rights.”

#ChapelHillNC #ImmigrantRights #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #YouthForWesternCivilization #TomTancredo

Fight Back: Please give us a little background about the trial. What where you charged with?

Haley Koch: I was charged with “disturbing the peace at an educational institution,” a subsection of the disorderly conduct statute. I was arrested nine days following the protest of the white supremacist hate group Youth for Western Civilization (YWC) and the racist, xenophobic Tom Tancredo. Although more than 250 students and community members expressed their outrage and disapproval at his presence, I was the only person arrested. I was handcuffed outside my class, in front of my classmates and professor, and walked across campus before being patted down, searched, and then taken to the police station. This followed the disgraceful behavior of the University and its police forces in their apology to Tom Tancredo and their harassment of student activists.

Fight Back: Despite months of pressure from the UNC administration and right-wing forces, the judge dismissed the charges against you and other protesters. How do you feel about this? Do you feel vindicated?

Haley Koch: I believe the dismissal sent a strong message to the University community that protest (even loud, visible protest) is legal and should not be repressed and policed in the way it was. I should hope that they would think harder about arresting protesters in the future. I also hope that students take note that we can and will have our voices heard.

Fight Back: What was the role of community support in this victory? What would you like to say to your supporters?

Haley Koch: The community support was overwhelming and crucial to the continued struggle. At a time when the University, local media and campus liberals were all speaking out against the protesters, organizational and individual letters and petitions in solidarity renewed our energy and helped us to feel less isolated and alone. The repression at the time was intense, meant to fragment, demoralize, and silence us. It might have worked were it not for the amazing support we received from across the country and around the world. At a time when I was receiving hate mail and being threatened on white supremacist and white nationalist websites, it was incredibly encouraging to know that there were many people out there dedicated to the same struggles, people who are willing to support each other in whatever ways they can and who live their lives committed to fighting these oppressive forces.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the love and support we received. It is essential that we come together in times of repression to show our collective strength and to continue to build power and feed our political efforts. I cannot emphasize enough how important the community support was and continues to be.

Fight Back: YWC's previous faculty advisor Chris Clemens stepped down over the summer, and was nearly disbanded from campus as a result. But now they have a new faculty sponsor and have announced events for the fall. Will the organizing continue against the YWC?

Haley Koch: The organizing against YWC will continue. Chris Clemens' decision to step down as advisor of YWC revealed the fact that sometimes protest and “controversy” are necessary to create social change.

YWC is planning to bring Bay Buchanan later this year. There will be protests. I still have hopes that the advisor and the president will come to realize that they are enabling a white supremacist hate group and will choose to step down. But, if they desire a fight, they should know that we have the strength and resources for it.

We will continue to organize against fascism, racism, and hate speech. These oppressions must not be allowed on our campus or in our communities.

Fight Back: The struggle against YWC has also put forward to other demands about a police review board and a hate speech policy at UNC, can you briefly let us know what is going on with that?

Haley Koch: The Protesters Defense Committee (PDC) is having conversations with Student Government about creating a police review board, and we will continue to fight for this. The next step will be mobilizing broader student and faculty support. We now have recorded testimony by police officer Lieutenant Twiddy saying that he shoved me to the ground that I believe will help in this struggle.

Several of us are meeting with Chancellor Thorp in the coming weeks to discuss the University's acceptance of hate and to explore ways to make the campus community a place safe for all students.

We will also be thinking creatively about ways to advance the struggle against institutionalized racism across the campus and our town.

#ChapelHillNC #OppressedNationalities #YouthForWesternCivilization #HaleyKoch

Chapel Hill, NC – Haley Koch and six community activists had their first court date June 1, for their participation in the Tom Tancredo and Virgil Goode protests that took place in April. These protests were in response to a far right-wing organization, Youth for Western Civilization, that brought two anti-immigration speakers, Tom Tancredo and Virgil Goode, to the University of North Carolina campus within a week of each other. Hundreds of students and activists protested the racism, xenophobia and white supremacy that these speakers promoted and seven demonstrators were arrested by campus police in response. They all pleaded not guilty, even after being offered a deal by the district attorney which would lighten their sentence in return for admission of guilt. The seven are standing strong in their belief that they did no wrong in protesting racism and white supremacy on UNC’s campus and will represent themselves in their next court date, Sept. 14.

UNC students and community members came out to the courthouse in large numbers to stand in solidarity with the activists. A rally and a press conference organized by the UNC Protesters Defense Committee (PDC) put forward the following demands: drop the charges against all the activists; dissolve Youth for Western Civilization; UNC must adopt an official hate speech policy to prevent such events from happening again; an independent police review board should be created. The rally included speeches from Haley’s father, Chris Koch, Reverend Harris from Saint Joseph’s Church, along with former UNC students and community activists who spoke in support of the seven activists and called for the university to meet the demands of the Protesters Defense Committee.

Although the next court date is not until September, the community is continuing to rally strong around this issue. The community solidarity is already beginning to produce results. Last week the student movement gained an important victory when the advisor of the YWC announced he would no longer serve as an advisor to the group, saying that the organization has built a reputation that is “an obstacle to constructive dialogue” due to the resistance it met on campus. “I’m not willing to sponsor an affiliate of the national YWC,” Professor Clemens said. If the organization does not find an advisor within 30 days, it will no longer be an official campus organization. Because of the reputation the organization has gained on campus, many faculty members may be reluctant to take it on. If this happens, Youth for Western Civilization will be without a home, and that would be a blow against organized white supremacy and anti-immigrant politics in the community.

The Protesters Defense Committee is continuing to build support around the creation of an independent review board, exploring the possibility of partnering with UNC’s student government to write a resolution for it. The PDC is also working to keep up support for the seven activists and prepare for the court date in September. The PDC is calling on all those who oppose racist hate-mongering and anti-immigrant politics to stand in solidarity with the PDC and other popular forces in the community in struggling against national oppression and racism.

#ChapelHillNC #News #Racism #YouthForWesternCivilization #WhiteSupremacy

Chapel Hill, NC – On April 23, about 100 students gathered for the second time in two weeks to oppose white supremacists organizing on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s campus. Just one week after the racist Tom Tancredo was driven off campus by turbulent protests, the Youth for Western Civilization (YWC), a white supremacist organization, brought former Virginia congressman Virgil Goode to speak about affirmative action and immigration.

60 students gathered in the Pit for a speak-out against racism. A broad united front of political and cultural organizations on campus organized the event. 200 students stopped to listen and debate with demonstrators, while students gave speeches denouncing the white supremacist views of Tom Tancredo, Youth for Western Civilization and Virgil Goode.

“We called on students to boycott the Virgil Goode event. The media makes them out to be the victim, but we understand that YWC is a national organization funded by white supremacists,” said Ariana Lucido, a first-year student at UNC and a member of Students for a Democratic Society and Alianza. “Our protest served to give students a voice that had been silenced by Goode and YWC’s hate speech. We will continue to speak out anywhere white supremacists and racist bigots try to oppress people.”

Inside the event, dozens of protesters greeted Virgil Goode with booing and hisses. Six activists were arrested when they held signs denouncing white supremacy and raised their voices against racism. Students were quick to point out the blatant hypocrisy of the administration in cracking down on the protesters.

“Chancellor Thorp has publicly apologized for the supposed violation of Tancredo’s right to spew hate,” said Carlyn Cowen, a UNC undergraduate. “He has been noticeably silent on the issue of the right of UNC students to speak freely against him and protest on their own campus. He seems more eager to protect the right of politicians to promote their racist agendas here than securing the safety and well-being of his own students.”

#ChapelHillNC #ImmigrantRights #News #Tancredo #YouthForWesternCivilization

Chapel Hill, NC – Over 200 protesters gathered here on April 15 to protest a talk given by the racist former congressman Tom Tancredo. Students, faculty and staff were in the streets and the lobby of the building chanting, “Shut it down – no racists in our town!” Some protesters were inside the room where the talk was being held and challenged Tancredo on his anti-immigration views while holding banners saying “No dialogue with hate,” and “No one is illegal.”

During the protest, the University of North Carolina (UNC) campus police pepper-sprayed individuals without warning and threatened to taser those who did not leave the building immediately. According to a press release by the UNC chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), witnesses also saw campus police throw two women out of the room onto the ground of the lobby and one officer pulling a third woman’s hair when removing the protesters from the building. In response to their conduct, UNC SDS is demanding investigation into the actions of the campus police and is also calling for a standing student review board to oversee all police conduct on campus.

The group who brought Tancredo to speak on campus, Youth for Western Civilization, states that their group exists to “promote the survival of Western Civilization and pride in Western heritage” and calls themselves “the West’s right-wing youth movement.” The Southern Poverty Law Center’s blog has cited that YWC has direct ties to known white nationalist hate organizations. One of YWC’s founders, Marcus Epstein, wrote in an essay, “Diversity can be good in moderation – if what is being brought in is desirable. Most Americans don’t mind a little ethnic food, some Asian math whizzes, or a few Mariachi dancers – as long as these trends do not overwhelm the dominant culture.”

Tancredo himself has become a symbol of hatred and racism across the nation. Tancredo declares multiculturalism to be a “self-destructive belief” and a “cult” and is notorious for his proposed anti-immigrant legislation. The students and staff at UNC have given strength to progressive groups around the country by standing up to Tancredo. Carlos Montes, with the Southern California Immigration Coalition, said, “I support the students right to protest racist Tom Tancredo. Tancredo has to be confronted and exposed wherever he speaks. The students should be commended for their action.”

Students and activists across the country need to stand up to racism and hate. Groups like Youth for Western Civilization and individuals like Tom Tancredo will continue to spew anti-immigrant and racist slogans unless we organize against them and for immigrants, for national liberation, and for progress.

#ChapelHillNC #ImmigrantRights #Tancredo #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #YouthForWesternCivilization