During a free speech event hosted by the ACLU at the College of William & Mary, Black Lives Matter protesters swarmed the stage and shouted down the law organization's executive director Claire Gastañaga.
Black Lives Matter W&M posted a live stream video of the incident online.
Along with the live stream, the group posted the following caption:
Tonight, we shut down an event at William & Mary where Claire Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, was speaking. In contrast to the ACLU, we want to reaffirm our position of zero tolerance for white supremacy no matter what form it decides to masquerade in.
In the video, protestors could be seen holding signs that read "The oppressed are not impressed!" and "Blood on your hands!" as well as "ACLU enabled Heather Heyer's Death!"
It's assumed that the protest concerned the ALCU's recent defense of white supremacists' right to march in Charlottesville back in August.
William and Mary's student newspaper, the Flat Hat, obtained a statement from a BLM group representative who criticized the ACLU for supporting white supremacists, a stance the ACLU has taken done before.
"We know from personal experience that rights granted to wealthy, white, cis, male, straight bodies do not trickle down to marginalized groups," the spokesperson said. "We face greater barriers and consequences for speaking.”
Except that, ironically enough, Gastañga was there to fight for BLM's rights.
Before she was rudely screamed off stage and the event was shut down, Gastañaga tried to explain that the ACLU fights for all freedom of expression, saying, "I'm going to talk to you about knowing your rights, and protests and demonstrations, which this illustrates very well."
Following the event, William and Mary President President Taylor Reveley issued a statement denouncing the action of the school's BLM chapter.
"We have a campus where respectful dialogue, especially in disagreement, is encouraged so that we can listen and learn from views that differ from our own, so that we can freely express our own views, and so that debate can occur. Unfortunately, that type of exchange was unable to take place Wednesday night when an event to discuss a very important matter -- the meaning of the First Amendment -- could not be held as planned," he said, reiterating his school's commitment to encouraging free speech.
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