A white supremacist rally at Texas A&M University has been canceled due to safety concerns.
Preston Wiginton, a former Texas A&M student, planned to host white nationalist Richard Spencer for a White Lives Matter rally on Sept. 11 at the university.
Texas A&M officials said in a statement Monday “the risks of threat to life and safety compel us to cancel the planned rally on Sept. 11.”
“As an Aggie and a community member, I am saddened by the usage of our university as a platform to spread hatred,” said state Rep. John Raney, a Republican, who first announced the cancellation.
“While I respect freedom of speech, assemblies of this abhorrent nature do not represent the values of Texas A&M — the values every Aggie holds sacred: Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect, Selfless Service. I support the counter rally and urge all Aggies and citizens of Bryan/College Station to unite in showing this group that they are not welcome in our community.”
The cancelation comes after a violent rally of white nationalists groups in Charlottesville, Va. this past weekend.
Violence broke out between white nationalists who gathered in Charlottesville to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee and counter-demonstrators Saturday.
One woman, Heather Heyer, was killed and another 19 were injured when a 20-year-old man plowed his car into the group of people protesting the white nationalists. The man, identified as James Alex Fields, a suspected Nazi sympathizer, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
