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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| At Columbia, Students Attack Minuteman Founder |
| 2006-10-05 |
| Ah, yes. The "free speech for me, but..." thing. And an Ivy League school. Can ya believe that? Students stormed the stage at Columbia University's Roone auditorium yesterday, knocking over chairs and tables and attacking Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the border between America and Mexico. Mr. Gilchrist and Marvin Stewart, another member of his group, were in the process of giving a speech at the invitation of the Columbia College Republicans. They were escorted off the stage unharmed and exited the auditorium by a back door. Having wreaked havoc onstage, the students unrolled a banner that read, in both Arabic and English, "No one is ever illegal." Arabic. How... interesting. As security guards closed the curtains and began escorting people from the auditorium, the students jumped from the stage, pumping their fists, chanting victoriously, "Si se pudo, si se pudo," Spanish for "Yes we could!" I thought it meant "Submit. Or die."? The Minuteman Project, an organization of volunteers founded in 2004 by Mr. Gilchrist, aims to keep illegal immigrants out of America by alerting law enforcement officials when they attempt to cross the border. The group uses fiery language and unorthodox tactics to advance its platform. "Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious ‘melting pot,'" the group's Web site warns. The pandemonium that ensued as the evening's keynote speaker took the stage was merely the climax of protest that brewed all week. A number of campus groups, including the Chicano caucus, the African-American student organization, and the International Socialist organization, began planning their protests early this week when they heard that the Minutemen would be arriving on campus. Yeah, the usual suspects. Did they bring their Big Giant Puppets? The student protesters, who attended the event clad in white as a sign of dissent, booed and shouted the speakers down throughout. They interrupted Mr. Stewart, who is African-American, when he referred to the Declaration of Independence's self-evident truth that "All men are created equal," calling him a racist, a sellout, and a black white supremacist. If only Mr. Stewart were considered a "white black supremacist". The boys and girls of Columbia would be organizing his ticker tape parade instead of acting like some spoiled child lynch mob. A student's demand that Mr. Stewart speak in Spanish elicited thundering applause and brought the protesters to their feet. The protesters remained standing, turned their backs on Mr. Stewart for the remainder of his remarks, and drowned him out by chanting, "Wrap it up, wrap it up!" Mr. Stewart appeared unfazed by their behavior. He simply smiled and bellowed, "No wonder you don't know what you're talking about." "These are racist individuals heading a project that terrorizes immigrants on the U.S.-Mexican border," Ryan Fukumori, a Columbia junior who took part in the protest, told The New York Sun. "They have no right to be able to speak here." Wonder if Ryan wore his jackboots? Oh, wait. That's the other side... The student protesters "rush to vindicate themselves with monikers like ‘liberal' and ‘open-minded,' but their actions, their attempt to condemn the Minutemen without even hearing what they have to say, speak otherwise," the president of the Columbia College Republicans, Chris Kulawik, said. On campus, the Republicans' flyers advertising the event were defaced and torn down. We'll decide what's free speech, dammit! The College Republicans expressed their concern about the lack of free speech for opposing viewpoints on the Columbia campus in the wake of the evening's events. "We've often feared that there's not freedom of speech at Columbia for more right-wing views — and that was proven tonight," the executive director of the Columbia College Republicans, Lauren Steinberg, said. Kinda looks that way... The Minutemen's arrival at Columbia drew protesters from around the city as well. An hour before Messrs. Stewart and Mr. Gilchrist took the stage, rowdy protests began outside the auditorium on Broadway, where activists chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the Minutemen have got to go!" My, how original... |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #10 Noooo, Frank! They were simply expressing freedom of speech! Who? There was another speaker there? You don't say! Columbia U |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-10-05 21:48 |
| #9 Columbia can make the right choice - prosecute and expel the students, who were clearly filmed and are identifiable, or turn the keys over to the leftist hoodlums. Who's in charge? Make the choice |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-10-05 18:39 |
| #8 I am SOOOOO glad I am not going to school these days. I would be in jail and probably expelled for disrupting this type of behavior. I noticed that the malcontents were not stopped by campus security. Good job rent-a-cops you bring honor to the badge. I just want to read one time: "Protestors beaten and dragged away by Campus Security after attempting to infringe on someoneÂ’s freedom of speech." SI SE PUDO! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-10-05 18:16 |
| #7 "These are racist individuals heading a project that terrorizes immigrants on the U.S.-Mexican border," Ryan Fukumori, a Columbia junior who took part in the protest, told The New York Sun. "They have no right to be able to speak here." I'd like to see this stupid moron name one, only one, real immigrant who has been terrorized or even opposed by the miniutemen. Just one! Immigrants don't come over the border illegally - ILLEGAL ALIENS do. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-10-05 17:46 |
| #6 mcseg - I think they accept speaking engagements at those places BECAUSE the opposition will act like total idiots. That behavior does have its price - Horowitz was to speak at Brown a few years ago and was either shouted down or the invitation pulled due to protest, I disremember which. Alumni contributions went down. He was invited again later, with strict orders from the administration to behave civilly. He was, of course, thoroughly disagreed with, but treated civilly. The yoots learned a little something in the process. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-10-05 17:38 |
| #5 It always surprises me when folks on the right agree to speak at these leftist schools. I suppose they think they are providing an opposing point of view, and that maybe they will influence the thinking of some on campus. In my mind this is a very naive point of view. These moonbats will not be changed. They KNOW they are right, and nobody's going to change that. Anybody who tries will be met with virulent, and often violent opposition. Hey, if you want to go to one of these cesspools and 'debate' or 'speak', more power to you, but don't come crying to me after the pie hits your face. Personally, I'd rather shake off the dust of my feet, write "Ichabod" over the doors, and go exert myself in venues where I can actually have an impact. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-10-05 17:20 |
| #4 So wrapped up in themselves they don't even see the irony. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-10-05 17:13 |
| #3 Signs in Arabic at Columbia? Now there is not a suprise. Liberal flag burners squashing freedom of speech with the aid of Arabs. How pissing sweet. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-10-05 16:48 |
| #2 The group uses fiery language and unorthodox tactics to advance its platform. "Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious ‘melting pot,'" the group's Web site warns. ooooh. Where's the fire extinguisher? I'm guessing that if they had called for the destruction of Israel it would have been ok by them. Beheadings - good. Robbery and rapes by coyotes - unpleasant but necessary. Death of our soldiers - a cause celeb! spoiled child lynch mob about sums it up. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-10-05 16:41 |
| #1 A number of campus groups, including the Chicano caucus, the African-American student organization, and the International Socialist organization, began planning their protests early this week when they heard that the Minutemen would be arriving on campus. Shameful to believe we've got young men and women dying for the cause of freedom and these communist bastards riot! Expell them permanently, deport them to muzziland where they belong. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-10-05 15:29 |