Florida Governor Declares State Of Emergency Ahead Of Richard Spencer Talk
Image by Getty Images
By Sam Kestenbaum October 18, 2017
Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Monday in the lead up to a speech by white nationalist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida.
The governor warned in an executive order that a “threat of a potential emergency is imminent” in Alachua County, where the university is located.
University of Florida officials have urged students to stay away from the rally. Counter protestors, however, are already planning on gathering at the school.
Spencer previously headed the white nationalist think tank the National Policy Institute and helped popularize the term “alt-right” over the last two years. He openly advocates for the creation of a whites-only ethnostate.
This summer Spencer spearheaded a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virgnia, where large crowds chanted “You will not replace us” and “Jews will not replace us.”
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
