According to The Charlotte Observer, the white nationalist group led by Jared Taylor hasn’t given up on hosting his conference in Charlotte. He’s the editor of American Renaissance, which labels itself as “A conservative monthly publication” that “promotes a variety of white racial positions.”
But why Charlotte? What’s so appealing about our city to a group that believes one race is more superior to another?
Can’t tell you. Apparently the question wasn’t asked at yesterday’s press conference at the Government Center. Or, if it was, it wasn’t included in the articles that were published about it.
So, let’s look back to the group’s conference trouble from last year …
Here’s a snip from a blog post, written by Taylor, entitled, “2010 AR Conference Held Against All Odds.”
Despite unprecedented threats and intimidation, the 2010 American Renaissance conference took place in the Northern Virginia as originally planned. Four hotels successively broke their contracts to hold the event—the last one just two days before the conference was to begin—so we sent out notices to registrants telling them there was to be no conference.However, our supporters refused to let us cancel! So many people told us they were coming anyway that we put together what turned out to be a very successful program. Now we are getting complaints from people who say they would have flown across the country if only they had known! There is a tremendous appetite for our people to meet, and hear straight talk about the crises our nation faces, and we were immensely heartened by the spirit of solidarity and commitment that galvanized this conference.
In the end …
This experience has left us with twice the resolve we had before, and AR will study its options for future conferences. Conferences are central to the mission of American Renaissance, and we will hold them against all odds. The 2010 conference has also brought home to us the passionate commitment of our supporters, who refused to let us cancel this conference and who insisted that we host them for a wonderful weekend of honesty, inspiration, and camaraderie. We look forward to seeing you all next time.
Read the rest of the post here.
Charlotte, you may not want this group here but it appears it’s going to take a lot more than a few phone calls and a canceled reservation to deter this group. And, again, I’ll remind you that even though you may disagree with what they group is all about and what they have to say — I certainly do — they are afforded the right to believe and say what they want by the First Amendment of our country’s Constitution.
Meanwhile, it looks as though other people are ramping up their plan to exercise their First Amendment rights. Check The Charlotte Post for more information on an upcoming rally.
Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes commentary on Creative Loafing’s CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.
This article appears in Feb 1-7, 2011.
“The Charlotte post – The Voice of the Black community”. Does the town also have a newspaper called: “The Voice of the White community”? If not, why not? Does the town have a chapter for the NAACP? Does the town also have a chapter for a “NAAWP”? Why don’t white people in Africa have minority rights? If not, why not? I can go on down the list for a long time.
Maybe American Renaissance heard that Charlotte encourages the exchange of divergent opinions, and invites such controversial groups as La Raza and Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam to speak without worrying about the backlash.
Maybe Charlotte thought that the world had evolved enough to the point where a white person could talk about race without being labeled a white supremacist or a Nazi, but I guess not, huh?
Pretty sad, Rhi, pretty sad.
WKSIII,
I’m white and I discuss race issues all the time.
To clarify, Charlotte doesn’t seem to want these folks here. (Even city officials stand accused of trying to thwart the group’s plans.)
I’m saying that, while I don’t agree with what the group stands for, they should be allowed to do their thing.
I 100 percent believe that we will only solve our problems once we learn to talk to each other about them. I’m all for being inclusive. We don’t have to agree with each other to hold a civil conversation, to take in each others view.
Rhi
Read this summary to see how Patrick Cannon violated the groups rights by sending an email to discourage the Sheraton Hotel to discriminate based on race:
http://blog.vdare.com/archives/2011/01/30/american-renaissance-conference-in-limbo-charlotte-city-councilman-patrick-cannon-reportedly-violated-group’s-first-amendment-rights/
NAAWP exists. It was founded by racist David Duke of the terrorist KKK organization. Maybe the first person who made a comment would like to find out how to join up.
No thanks Makewell. I live in Africa. America is your dump, now roll in it.
Your statement that “Charlotte” as a city “may not want this group here” is absurd and misleading.
Taylor and his group are not in the business of defaming or otherwise wishing harm upon other races. Rather, they want to ensure that whites (1) are not discriminated against–it is a common practice that is cloaked under the name of “affirmative action” or “diversity initiatives”, and (2) learn to advocate for their own interests in the same way blacks do through the NAACP and Hispanics do through La Raza.
Many whites in Charlotte will welcome his message, as will many people of other ethnicities who will be glad that racial issues are being talked about openly.
The only people who would want to expel and/or silence Taylor and his group are ones who want a totalitarian repression of free speech. Surely the author of this article doesn’t want that. Do you?