Protesters standing at the hands. Photo by Carter James, Editor in chief By William Deaver
Last Thursday, Feb 12, an organized walk out occurred at the hands, lasting from 10am to 2pm. This event was held in protest of the Montevallo chapter Of Turning Point USA (TPUSA). For those who are not aware, TPUSA is a right-wing, conservative non-profit organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk. The non-profit’s main objective is to go around to college campuses and recruitstudents to “…rise up against the radical left in defense of freedom,” according to their website.
The political nature of TPUSA isn’t what most students had an issue with; it was with the guest speaker TPUSA was going to have come speak on our campus. They had chosen the controversial figure and 1819 News CEO Bryan Dawson, a man who had accumulated 384 collective years in prison before getting it cut down to a mere dozen. His charges include running a cocaine ring, serial motor vehicle theft and torturing a man with a taser. Dawson also outed former Alabama Mayor Fred “Bubba” Copeland for crossdressing. Days later, the mayor shot himself. According to investigative reports done by Donald V. Watkins, in prison Dawson quickly rose to the top of a white supremacy gang, describing himself as a “shot caller”.
Now, Dawson is running the right-wing news platform, 1819 news. They seek to “inspire civic and cultural renewal by holding the powerful accountable while promoting the good, the true, and the beautiful.” By publishing stories such as “statewide tax cuts and school choice to drag-queen teachers no longer indoctrinating Alabama middle school students”, Both quotes come directly from 1819 News’s mission statement on their website.
A handful of students were already sitting at the hands come the official start time. As many more would trickle in, the mood of the crowd was positive. Days earlier, it was announced that the “pick up the mic” event with Bryan Dawson had been postponed, citing student safety concerns. Prior to the event being postponed, many students spoke against the event through emails and various social platforms. The widespread social uproar even led to threats against Dawson’s life. Students were pleased because it seemed like the university had listened to their concerns and did something to protect them. Notably, most students that were at the walk out didn’t necessarily have an issue with TPUSA themselves but instead the guest speaker they had chosen due to Dawson’s criminal background.
“Our university should be a safe space for everyone, and part of that includes not providing platforms for people who encourage violence against certain groups.” Says A.O, one of the organizers of the walk out.
Some students thought it was odd that the walk out was still taking place even after TPUSA’s event was postponed.
A.O said, “It’s important to see that there are other people in your community that believe in the same things that you do and believe in showing up for each other.”
While the event took place, TPUSA hosted a booth in Farmer Hall to debate students about free speech. The booth was hosted by the vice president of the Montevallo chapter of TPUSA Clay Callahan. After members were done debating in Farmer Hall, the club dropped by the walk out to “…see if anyone wanted to engage in free speech,” said Callahan when asked why they came to the walkout. As they arrived, a “loud dialogue” took place between Callahan and one of the protesters, that being Freshmen Claire Temple. Students claimed the loud dialogue occurred as Callahan was ridiculing fellow students for their gender identity’s, saying things like, “you’re a man,” or “you’re a woman,” to visibly queer students and recording them while saying, “This is the tolerant left.”
The protesters were responding with the same energy. In response, Temple, challenged Callahan by pointing out that TPUSA is a widely Christan group and claiming that what they were saying was going against the Bible.
“While I do support free speech, which is why I’m out here, these people claim to be representing Jesus and God…I don’t feel like they are a good representation of who Jesus is. I want people to have a personal relationship with God” said Temple after the conversation with Callahan.
Callahan said, “We’re fine with them not agreeing with us, but we would like for them to still communicate with us as humans. Everybody is worthy of respect and conversations.”
From what has been said by both TPUSA and the members of the walk out, there was a lack of clarity in the reason for the protest against TPUSA’s “pick up the mic” event. The general sentiment among the protesters was that the University of Montevallo shouldn’t be supporting the convicted felon guest speaker. Regardless of whether each student supported TPUSA as an organization, objections against Dawson in particular were the most proviolent among the protesters.
The “pick up the mic” event has been rescheduled to March 5, with Dawson as the guest of honor. If you have any safety concerns about the event, you can raise them to stulife@montevallo.EDU.
