Columbia, SC — The South Carolina Democratic Party recognizes the constitutional importance of free speech and the protections afforded by the First and Fourteenth Amendments, even for deeply offensive speech. However, while we acknowledge these protections, we strongly condemn the reprehensible and divisive content of the upcoming roast targeting Vice President Kamala Harris, scheduled to take place at the University of South Carolina on September 18th.
The event, hosted by the student group Uncensored America, features speakers known for their history of bigotry and inflammatory rhetoric, including individuals linked to extremist organizations. The intent of this event is not simply to exercise free speech but to provoke outrage by promoting harmful messages rooted in racism, misogyny, and anti-democratic ideals.
“We recognize the trap being set by these organizers, who thrive on provoking outrage and leveraging their constitutional rights to engage in offensive speech,” said Christale Spain, South Carolina Democratic Party Chair. “However, we must remind ourselves that the best response to hate speech is not censorship, which only feeds their narrative, but more speech—more condemnation of their hateful ideology. We stand firmly against bigotry while reaffirming the values of equality, justice, and inclusion that Vice President Harris embodies.”
The SCDP urges the University of South Carolina and other right-thinking citizens to take a stand by addressing the harmful rhetoric these speakers are likely to spread while maintaining the delicate balance between protecting free speech and fostering an inclusive, respectful campus environment. As a public institution, USC has a responsibility to its students, alumni, and community to stand against hatred while upholding the values of the First Amendment.
###
USC student event featuring Proud Boys founder draws small protests, no violence
BY: JESSICA HOLDMAN - SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 7:11 AM
COLUMBIA — A University of South Carolina student event featuring a pair of controversial far-right political provocateurs drew some 150 attendees. Before it started, protesters both outside the event and on Statehouse grounds criticized it as hate speech.
Unlike at other college campuses where speakers sparked protests, no violence erupted Wednesday.
The small group of protesters outside the event stood behind barriers far from the event entrance with signs bearing messages such as “zero tolerance 4 hate.” The group largely dispersed as the event started, though several entered and argued with the speakers when they took the stage a little before 9 p.m.
The event sponsored by the USC chapter of Uncensored America was billed as a “roast” of Vice President Kamala Harris with “roastmasters” Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys. The marketing for it featured a vulgar spelling of Harris’ first name.
Beforehand, alumni, students, professors, legislators and the NAACP criticized the state’s largest university system for allowing it to happen. More than 27,000 people signed an online petition calling on the school to shut it down.
University administrators have stressed the speakers do not reflect the school’s view, and that they were neither invited nor endorsed by the college. But they declined to stop it as a matter of constitutionally protected free speech.
“As a university, we denounce hate and bigotry. We condemn the vile and juvenile rhetoric used to promote this event,” USC President Michael Amiridis wrote in an Aug. 27 email message to students.
“Censoring even the most hateful individuals and groups does not solve the problems we face in our society, and instead provides them with a platform to win more publicity and support, because their message was silenced,” he continued.
Attendees filed into USC’s student center for the evening event, past a police presence that mostly outnumbered protestors and barriers not normally seen on Greene Street, which were set up in anticipation of a protest. All chairs in the room were full.
Their reasons for going ranged from being fans of the speakers to just being curious to wanting to heckle the two men.
“I’m not big on politics; I really just came to people watch,” USC sophomore Sydney Livingston, of Conway, told the SC Daily Gazette.
“I kind of want to mess with them honestly,” said political science student Aidan Thomas.
For Will Castellow, a music major from Mount Pleasant, it wasn’t his first Uncensored America event. He attended a debate on potential pornography bans that the group hosted last November and was interested to hear what the speakers had to say.
Last week, USC’s student government voted to reject Uncensored America’s funding request of $3,600 to help pay for it, the Daily Gamecock reported.
Castellow said he did not think the pushback against Wednesday’s event or the funding denial was fair, stating other political and activist groups have received funding in the past no matter their message.
And student Emily Whitaker questioned why the elevated security was needed. She said she hasn’t seen such measures put in place for other events on campus involving opposing views. As an example, she pointed to a drag show that took place the first week of classes.
About a half-mile away on a campus recreation field, an alternative event was held for students with inflatables, yard games, food and a jazz band, TV station WACH Fox reported. The line to get in stretched down the street and Amiridis, the college president, was in attendance.
Inside, the audience was split between those who cheered the speakers on and those who booed and interrupted. While no one was arrested or forcibly removed, several were approached by police officers in the room and asked to quiet down. Others shouted at the speakers as they stood and walked out.
What attendees heard was some commentary on Vice President Harris’ political views, remarks questioning her racial heritage and misogynistic comments about her rise in political office — as well as profanity-laden insults flung back and forth between the speakers and people in the crowd. The event lasted about 90 minutes.
Hours earlier, on the steps of the South Carolina Statehouse, about 40 people gathered in opposition, with speeches by members of civil rights groups and several Black state legislators. A smaller crowd stood protesting outside the event.
“Freedom of speech has been used as an excuse to cover up for hate since our Constitution was adopted. So, it is our First Amendment right to speak against hateful rhetoric in our country,” said Tiffany James, president of the Columbia chapter of the National Action Network, a national group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
The Statehouse protest was held separately, instead making their statement by intentionally not showing up to the event.
“Do not give them the pleasure of seeing your face,” said Oveta Glover, president of Columbia’s NAACP chapter.
“We will not go along quietly or silently, but we will stand for what is right,” said Rep. Ivory Thigpen, D-Columbia, who chairs the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus.
“Because hate speech leads to hate acts, and this history of hate is not so long or so far removed,” said Thigpen, who lost his bid for a Senate seat in June.
Hamilton Grant, a Columbia Democrat running for Thigpen’s House seat representing Columbia’s northeast suburbs, called it “a sad day” in South Carolina “when white supremacists are invited with open arms.”
Yiannopoulos, a British writer who refers to himself as a “fabulous supervillain,” has been criticized for his Islamophobic, misogynistic and transphobic viewpoints. He is a former editor at Breitbart News, the alt-right news platform co-founded by former President Donald Trump strategist Steve Bannon — a job he resigned from in 2017 — and former chief of staff for Kanye West’s fashion brand Yeezy.
McInnes — who was born in London, raised in Canada and lives in New York — is the founder of the Proud Boys. The Anti-Defamation League says the self-described “western chauvinist” group is a “a right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda,” while the FBI describes them as an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism.”
McInnes announced in 2018 he was leaving the group, though he continues to be associated with it.
At least one group, the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — which ranks freedom of speech on college campuses — applauded the university for its free speech stance.
Last year, the organization ranked USC as one of the worst colleges in the country for free speech. This year, it made the largest improvement of any other school, coming in at 34.
The ranking is based on school policies and surveys of students, which show that USC students now feel more comfortable expressing their views on a variety of topics, the foundation’s David Volodzko wrote in commentary published in The Post and Courier.
Jessica Holdman writes about the economy, workforce and higher education. Before joining the SC Daily Gazette, she was a business reporter for The Post and Courier. SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
