Richard Spencer’s ex-classmates have started an online fundraiser to repudiate him after a video from a white nationalist conference in Washington, D.C., surfaced and was widely shared.
Last week, members of the St. Mark’s School of Texas’ class of 1997 started the fundraiser against Spencer, a prominent leader of the white nationalist movement that “seeks a whites-only state,” The Washington Post noted.
In the video from the white nationalist conference, Spencer was seen shouting “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!” as some of the crowd can also be seen throwing their arms up in Nazi salutes, The Post noted.
“We are of different parties and views, but unite in recognizing that these values are under attack by our white supremacist classmate Richard B. Spencer ’97,” the fundraiser description reads. “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.”
It’s not clear who started the campaign, but the page says “this campaign is led by concerned alumni from the Class of 1997. It is not sponsored, managed, or initiated by St. Mark’s School of Texas,” The Post noted.
According to the fundraiser description, money raised will go to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an agency that serves refugees.
The school’s headmaster, David Dini, issued a statement criticizing Spencer, saying his actions have “been deeply troubling and terribly upsetting to our whole school community. We reject racism and bigotry in all its forms and expressions,” CBS News noted.
“This issue hits deep — not just for me but for everyone,” said Ben Kusin, former “Shark Tank” contestant and former classmate of Spencer’s. “When you see something like this, you have to say something.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, referred to Spencer as “one of the country’s most successful young white nationalist leaders — a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old, a kind of professional racist in khakis.”
Spencer’s classmates raised more than $46,000 by midday Monday.