Richard Spencer, alt-right leader and president of white nationalist think tank National Policy Institute, should probably avoid his next high school reunion.
Spencer’s fellow class of ’97 graduates from St. Mark’s School of Texas, a private preparatory school for boys located in Dallas, are fundraising to settle refugees in the city, going strictly against Spencer’s agenda to create a whites-only “ethno state.”
On their CrowdRise fundraising page, the “concerned alumni from the Class of 1997,” as the group calls itself, state they differ in backgrounds and politics but all agree that their values of respect, compassion, and service to all people are “under attack by our white supremacist classmate Richard B. Spencer ’97.”
Spencer and his think tank garnered attention after his speech at the annual National Policy Institute conference in which he praised President-elect Donald Trump with the phrase, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” Spencer’s speech was met with Nazi salutes from members of the audience.
In response to Spencer’s white nationalism, the concerned alumni are crowdfunding for the International Rescue Committee, Dallas’ principal agency for helping resettle refugees.
“Spencer’s views are un-American and a threat to civil society. We reject them and urge everyone to join us in condemning him and his agenda,” the page reads. We proudly support IRC’s efforts and denounce those like Spencer who consider refugees a threat.”
Since the crowdfunding’s launch about a week ago, the alumni have raised more than $58,000, well beyond their initial $20,000 goal. Nearly 800 contributions have been made.
Though the campaign is not directly associated with St. Mark’s School of Texas, the school’s headmaster released a statement that didn’t mention Spencer by name but denounced “one of our graduates” and their “hateful, divisive, racist, and anti-Semitic views” brought to light through news of the white nationalist conference.
Spencer replied to the campaign in a blog post and lamented the school’s declining white population since his attendance in the ’90s.
“The most revealing part of this story is that my classmates’ response to viewpoints they don’t like is to commit civilizational suicide even harder than before,” Spencer wrote. “They are raising money for resettling refugees in their city, damaging the lives of White people who lack their privilege.”
Sorry, Spencer. This is just damage being undone.
H/T Fusion