A protest broke out after a Turning Point USA chapter had announced it was launching at a high school in a suburb of Detroit.
Residents and students of the Royal Oak High School (ROHS) community assembled to protest against the TPUSA chapter before it had its first gathering.
A student organized a “Walk Out Against Hate & Violence” on October 22 “in opposition to the Turning Point USA coming to our school,” a flyer promoting the protest reads.
“We will be sitting down in class and then leaving. Bring your items with you,” the flyer reads.
Bruno, the president of the TPUSA chapter at ROHS, told Fox News Digital that he expected minor pushback, but not to the extent the chapter received.
“We haven’t even had our first meeting. It was a flyer to get people to join and to share interest with us if they want to come. All the hate we received kind of just exploded,” he said.
Jaden Bennett, one of the TPUSA Michigan high school field representatives who cover metro Detroit, said there were dozens of students that protested the chapter being formed.
“Some of these students that were protesting were questioning the principal,” she added.
In addition to the protest, a student group called the Royal Oak Student Voice posted a memo blasting TPUSA for its platform, claiming it’s masquerading as a civic non-profit group that in reality it’s a “white supremacist” group.
“But in reality, Turning Point USA is a primary driver of white supremacist, anti-LGBTQ, pro-violence, anti-woman propaganda for young audiences. Below are quotes from its main spokesperson at Turning Point USA events. These aren’t political opinions. These are examples of Turning Point USA’s otherist and hateful views. Check their website for videos and podcasts if this isn’t enough,” the student group said.
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The United Students of Royal Oak drafted a “Constitution Against Hate” as well. The constitution called the school’s administration ignorant for approving the “pro-hate” chapter.
Bennett spearheaded the effort to start a TPUSA chapter at ROHS. Bennett said that Bruno and other students chartered the chapter on Oct. 15. The chapter got approved by the principal on Oct. 21.
Within the first two hours of the TPUSA chapter posting on Instagram, outrage ensued. While the chapter’s social media account had only 15 followers, the first post accumulated over 300 comments.
Many of the comments called for the group to be removed.
“Students are just like, you’re hateful, you are a Nazi, oh my gosh, you’re a fascist, like, Charlie hated gay people, Charlie is a racist, how could you be promoting this?” Bennett said.
Over the next 48 hours, the backlash escalated with some comments spewing death threats.
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“Within like 24 pushing 48 hours… They had accumulated over 900 Instagram comments on this post. Maybe 100 were positive, you know, like supportive. A lot of them were my students and other field reps,” Bennett said.
Ever since Kirk was assassinated, Bennett has received a flood of requests to start chapters.
“Before Charlie passed away, I was doing a lot of outreach through social media and just faced off like community contacts and parent connections,” Bennett said.
“Ever since Charlie died, students have been reaching out – like I would say 90% of our students that are involved now are completely like they’ve reached out by themselves. We have almost 3,000 chapters in high school and the high school department.”
Bruno stepped up to lead the TPUSA chapter because he believes that everyone deserves a voice in debates.
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“People have been telling me why not just make a Republican club? This is more about just the Republican part of the party. This isn’t about Republicans and religion. And this is about having open discussions with people who view differently so that we can get their side, and we could discuss our side.”
ROHS administrators did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
