Official Statement from Kyle Bristow Regarding “Hate Group” Claims

On April 23, 2010, the popular Above the Law blog published an article which alleges that students at my law school–the University of Toledo College of Law–are concerned about my political beliefs and past conservative activism. The author of the article greatly mischaracterizes me, exaggerates selective aspects of my prior political activity, uses unsavory hyperbole to malign me, utilizes “guilt-by-association” tactics to make tasteless ad hominem attacks against me, and quotes purported students at my law school–who hide behind a cowardly anonymity–who attack me for my conservative beliefs. The word “hate” is mentioned no less than four times in the brief article–five if you include the title–and nothing about it is fair and balanced. In effect, the article is an anti-conservative diatribe.

The petty attacks that are being maliciously and relentlessly made against me are motivated by differences in political opinion between left-wing agitators and me. Arguably, these unwarranted attacks are being perpetrated against me because of my steadfast opposition to affirmative action programs, illegal immigration, socialism, and multiculturalism. While Right-thinking individuals appreciate my beliefs and past political advocacy, the Left finds them to be disagreeable.

Over the course of the last few years, I have received much praise from fellow conservative activists and politicians. Saul Anuzis, the former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, said of me that I am “exactly the type of young kid we want out there”; a member of the U.S. Congress once told a group of people at a countywide Republican meeting that I am the “face of the Republican Party”; and Jennifer Gratz, who acted as the executive director for the Michigan ballot initiative to outlaw affirmative action, thanked in her victory speech the university-sanctioned student organization I led at Michigan State University for being invaluable in the campaign. I have received awards and scholarships for my conservative activism, I have been elected to public office, I have appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, I have been quoted by Sean Hannity on his television show, I was invited to a private function with President Bush, I have been invited to private dinners with presidential candidates, politicians–including those running for governor and U.S. Senate–have sought my endorsement, and I have been contacted by conservative activists across our nation who wish to emulate me at their universities.

As the chairman of the Michigan State University chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom, I participated in public debates and forums on issues including embryonic stem cell research, illegal immigration, and affirmative action (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWmFc6_UT0A). I also hosted numerous prominent conservative speakers who discussed a number of issues. Speakers I hosted include Chris Simcox of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, Congressman Tom Tancredo, Nick Griffin of the British National Party (who is the chairman of the fourth-largest and fastest growing political party in the U.K., who has been elected to the European Parliament, and who will likely be elected to the U.K. Parliament this year), Islamic-terrorist-turned-Christian Walid Shoebat, Jennifer Gratz of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, urban conservative Akindele Akinyemi, Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, documentary filmmakers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, and author Ryan Sorba, among many, many others. I contributed very much to intellectual political discourse at Michigan State University, because these events were always open to the public, free to attend, and time was set aside for audience members to ask questions of the speakers.

For standing up for conservatism, I have needed police protection on at least six occasions, I have been physically kicked to the ground, I have been spat on and cursed, and some of the speaking engagements I hosted were horribly disrupted by left-wing agitators (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXDLVI4wz6k). In fact, the campus police even requested that Chris Simcox wear a bullet-proof vest at his event for his own safety. The infantile words the Left is now using to cowardly and pathetically attack me are nothing compared to the hostility I have faced over the years for standing up for my conservative ideals.

Amazingly, one leftist recently advised me to apologize for my conservative beliefs and told me that I should send out a press release through which I would grovel for their forgiveness. I am proud of my conservative activism through which I defended freedom, the Constitution, Western culture, and morality, and I will not apologize for any of it–I have done nothing wrong.

Instead of participating in civilized political discourse, the Left has made it their mission to tortiously malign my character. Even though I have never been convicted of a crime and have never been deemed to have violated the Student Honor Code at either my undergraduate university or at my law school, various individuals are publicly alleging–both implicitly and explicitly–that I have engaged in criminal activity by committing hate crimes, that I am likely to be the cause of a Virginia Tech-style massacre, that I am unfit to practice law, that I am unfit to work at a reputable law firm, that I am mentally unstable, and that I am a homosexual. These leftist agitators are also using inappropriate slurs–including “white supremacist” and “Hitler wannabe”–to describe me. One individual affiliated with law students has even publicly encouraged people to “beat the shit” out of me, while others have joked–presumably–about physically harming me.

Lawyers with whom I have consulted have advised me to sue anyone who maliciously makes defamatory statements about me which overtly allege that I have committed a crime or claim that I am mentally or ethically unfit to be a lawyer. Being that IP traces can easily be done with a subpoena, cowards who anonymously libel me in the comment sections of online articles will be tracked down and sued, as will those who tortiously libel me on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs.

I am being viciously persecuted for my political thoughts by law students who wish to punish me for having exercised my constitutional and God-given right to free speech through which I directly confronted the politically-correct left-wing dogma that unfortunately permeates academia. One would only think and hope that future American lawyers–who must swear to uphold the Constitution when they are granted their law licenses–would respect free speech rather than act in ways that are congruent with Sharia law and what many political scientists refer to as “soft totalitarianism.”

Despite what the radical Left thinks, one who defends the Constitution and freedom and who is proud of his culture and heritage is not barred from practicing law. There was once a day in our nation’s history when devotion to the Constitution and freedom was required to be a lawyer.

Defiantly and Unapologetically in Freedom,

Kyle J. Bristow

[Editor’s Note: The Above the Law article to which Mr. Bristow is replying can be read here.]