Article: MSU YAF to Bring BNP's Nick Griffin to Speak

Some time ago, I blogged about Michigan State University's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, and how they were planning on suing the Southern Poverty Law Center for listing their chapter as a "Hate Group." There's been no word of any forward motion on the lawsuit, but, in typical MSU YAF fashion, they seem to have shot themselves in the foot by bringing a genuine racist, anti-Semite and Holocaust denier to speak on campus. MSU-YAF to Host Nick Griffin of the British National Party Griffin will Speak about how Islam is Taking Over Europe East Lansing, Mich. - Nick Griffin, the chairman of the British National Party (BNP), will deliver a speech at Michigan State University on the issue of how Europe is rapidly becoming "Eurabia." He will be speaking on October 26, from 7 to 9 p.m., in Room E100 of the Veterinarian Medical Center. The student organization that is hosting the event is the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). Kyle Bristow, the chairman of Michigan State University chapter of YAF, said, "It is an honor to host Nick Griffin at my university. Griffin is going to explain how multiculturalism, mass immigration, and Islam are destroying Western civilization." Of course, these are the kinds of things that YAF like to harp on. What's unknown is if they truly understand what Nick Griffin, and the BNP, stand for. In a nutshell, the British National Party is an extreme nationalist party that is against non-white immigration and race-mixing. Since Nick Griffin became its Chairman, they have backpedaled from vocally expressing some of their more extremist stands, such as open admiration for Hitler and the Nazis, and started couching their xenophobia in bland, less obvious terms. That said, the veneer isn't too deep to penetrate. The BNP's Constitution still states: "The British National Party ... is wholly opposed to any form of racial integration between British and non-European peoples. It is therefore committed to stemming and reversing the tide of non-white immigration and to restoring... the overwhelmingly white makeup of the British population that existed in Britain prior to 1948." Membership is still denied to persons who are not "Indigenous Caucasian," meaning that they hail from the British Isles. Nick Griffin was prosecuted for "incitement to racial hatred" after publishing a holocaust-denying magazine, making several anti-Semitic statements, and publicly denying that the Holocaust took place. As late as 2006 he had not recanted those statements, and went on record saying "It's well known that the chimneys from the gas chambers at Auschwitz are fake, built after the war ended."' Interestingly enough, the BNP claim to have Jewish members, but will only allow in Jews who can prove British descent. MSU YAF's nemeses at YAF Watch have been chronicling the matter quite heavily, as you might expect. In response, YAF alumnus Jason Van Dyke and YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow have tried to deflect criticism by pointing out that YAF, itself, is not anti-Semitic (with Bristow's insinuating, falsely, that my letter to the editor insinuated it was). They also claim that Griffin has "recanted" his previous statements, but have thus far failed to provide any sources to back it up. In a nutshell, YAF's argument is: We can be bad because leftists are bad people, too; the BNP is a legitimate party; anything Griffin said back then doesn't matter because he might have been seriously inquiring as to the veracity of the Holocaust for non-racist purposes, regardless of where he and the BNP were at that time; and besides, it's YAF's "understanding" that he's recanted it all; so come and listen to him talk about how Islam is super-bad news and make up your own mind, regardless of the facts. The audience might be quite lively. According to YAF Watch, not only have the racists at Stormfront made noises about attending, but Anti-Racist Action of Wayne State University is planning to come protest. And MSU Student groups are planning on attending and/or protesting as well, of course. I have yet to get a satisfactory answer from any member of YAF as to their stance on Nick Griffin's more radical statements, or the BNP's views on race. I have challenged them to say whether they stand by their speaker, and so far it appears they do. The question is how much of Griffin's views are shared by MSU YAF. And, if not, whether their invitation is just another cynical attempt to make the campus Left look manic and violent by bringing a real monster around to protest.