Breaking the Sound Barrier on Campus [Updated]
Jared Taylor, American Renaissance, September 5, 2022
On Friday, I gave a speech at Arizona State University — despite furious opposition. “Anarchists” and “anti-fascists” tried to pressure the university to cancel the talk, and they put on a noisy demonstration before and during the event. Student groups denounced the organization that invited me — College Republicans United — but the university held firm to its commitment to free speech. Campus police provided courteous, efficient security. It was a textbook case of how to bring a “dissident” speaker to a college campus.
The venue for the talk was well chosen, with a main entrance at the front and several back entrances. Demonstrators massed in front, separated by barriers from people who wanted to come inside to hear the talk. Police escorted me in through a back entrance; I could hear demonstrators roaring all the way from the other side of the building.
My talk, “If We Do Nothing: A Defense of White Identity Politics,” was an introduction to why white racial awareness is necessary. I started with the basics of race — that it is the biological equivalent of subspecies in animals — and described the most important racial differences, with an emphasis on intelligence. I pointed out that refusing to recognize racial reality means unfairly blaming whites for the failures of blacks and Hispanics, and for this reason alone, it is essential to talk about them. I gave examples of how diversity is a terrible weakness, not a strength, and argued that the attempt to build a multiracial America has failed. “What is the solution?” I asked, and replied that it lies in the scores of racial identity groups on the Arizona State University Campus — of which I had counted no fewer than 70.
On a campus that prides itself on “diversity” — whites may already be a minority — non-whites band together in a clear effort to build racial solidarity and promote identity politics. If diversity is a strength, why do non-whites want homogeneity? Because disengagement is the way to escape the irreconcilable differences that are poisoning America. Most people prefer to be among people like themselves, and campus groups point the way for society at large: Some people may want to live multi-culti lives, but the rest of us must have the right to go our own way. There is not, of course, a single “white” or “European” group on campus. This is typical of the fatal double standard according to which only whites are barred from taking the most obvious efforts to defend their interests and ensure their continued existence as a people.
I ended by saying that I wanted the best for people of all races. Let blacks build Wakanda and Hispanics build Aztlan, but with their own efforts and with no whining about “white privilege.” And we, too, must have our own nation in which we can live according to the ways of our people.
There were officers present in the auditorium, and there were no interruptions as I spoke. I took questions until the time allotted for the room was up — approximately an hour and a half. Demonstrators must have been having a grand time, they were still howling when I came out. A phalanx of at least a dozen officers escorted me to a waiting automobile. Half a dozen demonstrators saw me and ran up, but had scarcely time to hoot before I was driven off. This short video shows the protesters at their best. This longer video also gives a good idea of what they were like.
Friday, Sept. 2 @ASU_CRU (College Republicans United) hosts Jared Taylor on ASU campus at Neeb Hall.
For @statepress pic.twitter.com/fqxi2MId3p
— Jason White (@Jason_White23) September 3, 2022
College Republicans United (CRU), which invited me to speak and arranged the event, is only a few years old, but has chapters on several dozen campuses. It has no political affiliation and drives student representatives of the Republican Party crazy with its innocuous name. Needless to say, the ASU College Republicans joined every multi-culti pressure group in denouncing CRU, which it called “a bigoted, illegitimate splinter group that consistently underines [sic] and blasphemes the principles of the Republican Party.” As for me, “ideas like the superiority of one race over another are perverse and evil, and need to be condemned in the strongest terms possible.” CRU takes great joy in forcing toothless Republicans into exactly the same positions as anti-white campus group.
The Republicans might as well have signed a joint letter written by lefty and race-identity student organizations who pronounced themselves “disgusted by Jared Taylor’s views and believe they have no place at Arizona State University.” They insisted that I be banned from campus “to make Arizona State University a safe, inclusive university for all students, of every race, religion, and ethnicity” — except for white people, it appears.
The College Republicans probably endorsed the anti-free-speech campaign to flood the phones with protest calls to make the university call off the talk.
This linked to a “script” that unimaginative anarchists could read when they got the university president on the line. The antis reportedly put up paper versions of the cute Klansman, but I was disappointed not to find one for my scrapbook.
My supporters came up with images that were almost as imaginative.
From the beginning, ASU took a principled stand in favor of free speech. Spokesman Jay Thorne explained that “Campuses are open to any speaker whom a student group has invited.” The university also issued an excellent statement: “ASU is a public educational institution that is committed to free, robust and uninhibited sharing of ideas among all members of the University’s community.” This was far more principle than ticket-seller Eventbrite could muster, which stopped handling tickets to the event with this “explanation:” “We determined that Jared Taylor engages in or promotes conduct that violates our Community Guidelines and therefore is not permitted on the Eventbrite platform as an organizer or a featured speaker.” CRU sold tickets through Bamm! instead.
By the time of the talk, the antis were in high dudgeon, urging all their friends to come make a stink.
Since they couldn’t count on the “so-called” authorities to “prevent the spread of fascism,” they were determined to censor me themselves.
I would have loved to get an eyeful of the demonstrators and listen to their subtle arguments, but the police didn’t want me near them. The message cut off below on the right says, “Eat shit, Jared.”
I was charmed by the informality of using my first name.
Michael Crow, the president of ASU, apparently likes to brag about campus “diversity.” According to a press account that called me a “reported white supremacist” — whatever that is — demonstrators said the president has no right to crow about diversity unless he is willing to quash diversity of thought. Some reportedly complained about his “most-diverse-campus-ever hypocrisy.” “Not only is it not okay [for Taylor to speak],” said Chayce Bland, “but what does it say about the university that’s unwilling to block something like this? 50% of ASU’s population is made up of minorities.”
And that is why Arizona Right Wing Watch directed this subtle message to President Michael Crow.
A few people claimed they had paid money for tickets but were kept out.
This is a pity, if true. I would have enjoyed questions from a man with neon hair and a necklace of what look like human teeth.
Rumor has it that the university spent $45,000 to maintain order. I believe it. Police put up barricades to funnel attendees safely through a sea of jeering protestors. This is just a part of the labyrinth, which I examined before the protestors arrived.
There must have been at least 20 officers on duty for the talk, making sure the anarchists didn’t live up to their name. As much as their hairdos and their language, the need for measures like this tell us what our opponents are like. What would they have done if there had been no police? I’m sure they would have made so much noise it would have been impossible to hear the “fascist.” Would they have attacked me physically? I wouldn’t put it past them.
This is the message any sensible person should take from an event like this: The United States is such a blinkered and conformist place that it takes a huge police presence to keep foul-mouthed misfits from assaulting a dissenter who has actually thought seriously about the problems the country faces.
In any case, the event was an unqualified success, and deeply upsetting to the enemies of free speech.
CRU has posted a low-quality video of the talk here.