Black Lives Matter Protested ACLU: 'You protect Hitler, too!'

A celebration of free speech at William & Mary College in Virginia took an unexpected turn last week when protesters from Black Lives Matter swarmed the stage and forced organizers to end the event.

“Liberalism is white supremacy!” the protesters shouted, and “ACLU, you protect Hitler too!”

The disruption occurred before Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, could give a planned speech on freedom of expression.

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The protesters livestreamed the demonstration on Facebook and were heard shouting other slogans, including, "The oppressed are not impressed!,” “Blood on your hands!,” and “The revolution will not uphold the Constitution!”

Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, is seen isolated onstage as protesters drown her out.  (Facebook)

The ACLU earned the wrath of the protesters after they defended white supremacists' right to march in Charlottesville, Va., in August, according to the campus's Flat Hat News. The march in Charlottesville quickly turned violent, leading to the death of one woman and injuries to many others.

Gastañaga tried to point out to the disruption as an example of why she needs to talk about freedom of expression on university campuses, saying “Good, I like this,” as the protesters raised their signs.

"I'm going to talk to you about knowing your rights, and protests and demonstrations, which this illustrates very well," she said. "Then I'm going to respond to questions from the moderators, and then questions from the audience."

Protesters blamed the ACLU for the death of Heather Heyer, who died in Charlottesville, Va., after a white supremacist drove into a crowd.  (Facebook)

But the protesters continued the disruption and barred anyone from approaching Gastañaga to speak. One organizer reportedly granted the demonstration's leader a chance to speak.

“When is the free speech of the oppressed protected? We know from personal experience that rights granted to wealthy, white, cis, male, straight bodies do not trickle down to marginalized groups. We face greater barriers and consequences for speaking,” the protester said.

William & Mary College President Taylor Reveley issued a statement afterward, saying silencing others was “not acceptable in our community.”

“This stifles debate and prevents those who’ve come to hear a speaker, our students in particular, from asking questions, often hard questions, and from engaging in debate where the strength of ideas, not the power of shouting, is the currency,” he added.

“William & Mary must be a campus that welcomes difficult conversations, honest debate and civil dialogue.”

BLM Protesters in Charlottesville Defaced Thomas Jefferson statue

Just one month ago, white nationalists stormed the University of Virginia's rotunda chanting "Jews will not replace us." On Tuesday, exactly one month later, a different group of protesters came together to deride the school's response to last month's events.

About 100 students, faculty and community members – some invoking "Black Lives Matter" chants – showed up at the Charlottesville, Va. university and placed a black tarp on a monument honoring Thomas Jefferson, a U.S. Founding Father and a founder of the university.

Last month, plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee turned violent, resulting in the death of Heather Heyer, who was there to protest white supremacist groups. The deadly protest set off a national debate over what to do with hundreds of historic monuments across the South that honor the Confederacy.

At the rally on Tuesday, several people climbed atop the Jefferson monument and placed signs on it that called him a "racist" and "rapist." Students also chanted "No Trump, No KKK, no racist U-V-A," according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Jefferson has a complex, well-documented history with slavery. He owned hundreds of slaves, but he also worked to gradually end slavery. Historians now believe the former president had a relationship with his wife's half-sister, Sally Hemmings, who was a slave at Monticello.

“One month ago, we stood on the front lines in downtown Charlottesville as all manner of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and neo-fascists swarmed the area,” a speaker told the crowd, the Daily Progress reported. “Two months ago, the Ku Klux Klan rallied in their safe space, fully robed and fully protected by multiple law enforcement agencies who brutalized and tear-gassed peaceful counter-protesters.”

The monument to Thomas Jefferson, UVA founder and U.S. Founding Father, outside the rotunda at the University of Virginia. (Wikimedia)

The rally was in response to a decision by the university to deny a request by the Black Student Alliance to ban white supremacists from campus and remove Confederate plaques on the rotunda, the Daily Progress reported.






“With every new horror that arises each month, each day, there has been an unparalleled resistance of people who say no to white supremacy, no to fascism, no to all forms of oppression,” said the speaker, the Times-Dispatch reported. “And we recognize and honor the fact that this resistance was not born 10 months ago, but has actually lived for many years: Communities of color in Charlottesville fighting for affordable housing, for a living wage, for an end to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, for education for all.”

The protest has cleared, but the shroud on the Thomas Jefferson statue at the Rotunda remains. pic.twitter.com/BqYtCEtH5q— Alexis Gravely (@_AlexisWasHere) September 13, 2017

There are more than 1,500 confederate symbols, statues and monuments in the United States, including the names of highways and schools, according to a 2016 study by the Southern Poverty Law Center.