Richard Spencer cancels speaking tour of college campuses after speech in Michigan
A year after launching a barnstorming tour of the nation鈥檚 colleges, delivering at each stop controversial speeches designed as much to trigger protests from an increasingly energetic antifascist movement as they were to introduce racist ideas to America鈥檚 youth, Richard Spencer is hanging it up.
Spencer, the head of the National Policy Institute, announced over the weekend that he was ending his college speaking tour, saying he plans to make a 鈥渃ourse correction鈥� after his speech last week at Michigan State University drew a less-than-sizeable audience and of one of Spencer鈥檚 closest confidants, a former school teacher.聽
鈥淚n our lives, we always need to be course correcting. We always need to take a step back and think, and ask ourselves honestly, is this the right direction?鈥� Spencer said in a 25-minute video uploaded on Sunday to YouTube. 鈥淲e need to do that with regard to my public appearances going forward or really any public appearance involving a controversial, alt-right identitarian figure.鈥�
Spencer鈥檚 announcement ends an expansive effort that criss-crossed the country and involved repeated court battles 鈥撯�� some of which remain unresolved for speeches planned at the University of Cincinnati and Penn State 鈥撯�� as the white nationalist 鈥渁lt-right鈥� sought to spread racist ideologies among America鈥檚 youth. The effort led to repeated controversy as colleges and universities fought to restrict access and prevent violent clashes between the alt-right and the antifascist protests that followed Spencer wherever he spoke.
Protest groups responded to Spencer鈥檚 announcement immediately, with the 鈥淪top Spencer at Michigan State University鈥� group on Facebook claiming credit for ending the college tour.
鈥淭his is a huge win!!!!! We are powerful and can out-organize the fascists!!!!! We showed what our community stands for. Let鈥檚 keep building for the world we want, against white supremacy and all forms of domination,鈥� the group wrote on Facebook.
In his video, Spencer attributes his decision to end the tour to the rise of antifascist protests surrounding his speaking engagements, which he attributes to smaller audiences in recent months, as well as the political climate following the Unite the Right rally last August in Charlottesville, Virginia, that ended with the death of a protester who was run over by an alt-right extremist protesting that day.
鈥淲hat changed was Charlottesville. There were many things about Charlottesville that were very trying. There were some things that were just simply terrible,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淎nd even those trying things can be good: standing in the face of oppression, police oppression the oppression of free speech and free assembly.鈥�
But that may be more of a rosy retelling of聽events than anything else.
In the days before Spencer鈥檚 scheduled speech at Michigan State University, Kyle Bristow, the alt-right attorney who worked to negotiate many of Spencer鈥檚 speeches, announced his resignation from the white nationalist Foundation for the Marketplace of Ideas (FMI) and his departure from radical right politics. No amount of spin can hide that, though Spencer sought to distance himself from Bristow鈥檚 departure and focus on the violence across the radical right.
鈥淭he idea of the college tour was not to inspire pitched battles between our side and the antifa,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淭he idea of a college tour is going into the belly of the beast. It鈥檚 going into totally academic marxist controlled territory and giving a speech that introduces the basic ideas of identitarianism and the alt-right, to interface with students, and to present ourselves, to a degree, as a kind of curiosity.鈥�
A kind of curiosity? In 2016, when Spencer announced聽he was turning his attention to college campuses, the intent was never to draw a curious audience. In fact, Spencer quite explicitly announced his intention to trigger a response from students and so-called social justice warriors upset by the promotion of racist ideas.
鈥淩ichard Spencer 鈥斅爐he originator of the term 鈥楢lt Right鈥� and one of the most politically incorrect men alive 鈥斅爄s coming to your college! He鈥檒l debate your favorite feminist professor 鈥� make the SJWs (social justice warriors) cry 鈥� and rustle the jimmies of the campus, if not the world,鈥� the announcement posted to Spencer鈥檚 Radix journal read in 2016.
Spencer鈥檚 tour ignited a passionate response 鈥撯�� one that has left the alt-right in the midst of a crisis of purpose and no clear path forward.
鈥淲e are facing a great deal of repression right,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淎nd the fact is yes, we can stand tall in the face of this. We should. But we should also start questioning our own methods and the direction we鈥檙e heading in.鈥�
He added, 鈥淭he fact is, until this situation changes, we are up a creek without a paddle.鈥�
