For several weeks, students attending the University of Louisville have been disturbed by acts of vandalism, racially motivated hostility, and the appearance of flyers and stickers promoting the right-wing extremist group Patriot Front.
The flyers and stickers are quickly removed by students and the university’s physical plant workers, but are soon replaced with more. The recruitment stickers and flyers feature one of three themes:
- The group’s trademark garish “patriot” motif
- Anti-communist posters featuring the Soviet hammer and sickle
- Or one of the group’s logos, an eagle clutching arrows, with anti-immigrant messaging.
An email was sent to all students on January 15th, following the theft of an LGBTQ+ Pride banner at the university’s College of Business and the initial reports of the appearance of Patriot Front recruitment materials. The email, sent by Dr. V. Faye Jones, the Senior Associate Vice President of Diversity and Equity, condemns the hate group’s activities on campus and assures students that the University of Louisville Campus Police are actively investigating the reported instances of vandalism as well as “hostile interactions directed at people of color.”
The University of Louisville website features a section dedicated entirely to the “Cardinal Anti-Racism Agenda,” which promises to “take a stand against the systemic racism that continues to impact all of us, particularly our Black students, faculty, and staff, and other stakeholders of color and from historically marginalized groups. We will take concrete action to lead to much-needed change on campus and in our community.” The website goes on to say that they “will become a premier anti-racist metropolitan research university.”
Students initially began expressing their concern two weeks ago, taking pictures of the posters and sharing the pictures on various social media platforms. One of these students, Meera Sahney, captured the picture below on her cellphone and expressed her outrage at the recruitment literature.
As a member of University of Louisville Student Government Association and a daughter of an immigrant myself, finding this racist propaganda was horrific and traumatizing to students of color. The placement, message, & timing of the propaganda was no coincidence & very clear. I would urge students, especially immigrant students, to be careful around campus and for swift action for the immediate removal, condemnation and consequences for this behavior.
– Meera Sahney, SGA senator
of College of Arts & Sciences.
The flyers and stickers are still appearing on campus. Student Jack Boisseau told Forward Kentucky that he saw “a neo-Nazi bumper sticker” right outside of Miller Hall — a student dormitory building — on February 1st. Another student, Caroline Thomas, said she saw another Patriot Front sticker on the outside of the Bingham Humanities Building on Friday, February 5th.
Student political organizations from both sides of the aisle have condemned the group and have expressed that they do not feel this group should be attempting to recruit on campus. On January 19th, the University of Louisville Young Democrats and College Republicans released a joint statement of condemnation which they posted to their various social media accounts.
Daniel Rankin, parliamentarian for the UofL College Republicans, provided the following statement to Forward Kentucky:
Seeing flyers and materials promoting hate on campus is heartbreaking. Now is a most critical time for the nation to come together and grow through such bitter division. During my experience, the University of Louisville has always been a great place to discuss new ideas with people of all different backgrounds without concern or worry of being targeted. Students and faculty alike should do their part and hold groups of hatred accountable so that everyone can feel safe in the learning environment.
Likewise, Julia Mattingly, Vice President of the Young Democrats, was outraged by the situation.
As Vice President of Young Democrats — a group composed of students from all races and ethnicities — I am appalled by the posting of white nationalist propaganda today on UofL’s campus. The organization that posted these reprehensible flyers in no way represent the true values of this nation or the University of Louisville. Immigrants help build the foundation of this country, and we as Americans must continue to embrace them rather than exclude them as this organization has attempted to do today.
Patriot Front is a designated hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was founded in 2017 as a result of the violent August 12th “Unite the Right” rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia. The beliefs of the organization are racist and anti-Semitic, and it promotes white nationalism and the formation of a white ethnostate. The formation of Patriot Front was a result of a split from another white nationalist group, Vanguard America. Their disturbing rhetoric is featured on the group’s website where their manifesto describes in graphic detail what the hate group believes.
“An African, for example, may have lived, worked, and even been classed as a citizen in America for centuries, yet he is not American. He is, as he likely prefers to be labelled, an African in America. The same rule applies to others who are not of the founding stock of our people as well as to those who do not share the common unconscious that permeates throughout our greater civilization, and the European diaspora.” (Patriot Front Manifesto)
The Texas-based hate group lauds the likes of Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, as well as infamous aviator and Nazi-sympathizer, Charles Lindbergh. The University of Louisville is not the only school in the area with reports of vandalism by the hate group: on January 27th, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Northern Kentucky University also is having issues with Patriot Front’s vandalism including spray-painting on a beloved campus location known as “the rock.” Days later, they reported that Xavier University also had been hit by the hate group’s vandalism.
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Resources
Anti-racist resources for university students to take advantage of: