America First - Nicholas J. Fuentes - September 13, 2017


Nick Fuentes interviewed by Boston University student TV


Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

178.98877

Word count

1,593

Sentence count

92


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcripts from "America First - Nicholas J. Fuentes" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
00:00:05.000 Thanks, Nick.
00:00:05.000 Joining me now is Nicholas Fuentes, a former BU student and creator of the YouTube series America First.
00:00:11.000 Thank you for joining us.
00:00:13.000 Thanks for having me.
00:00:14.000 You left BU this summer citing an unwelcoming environment.
00:00:18.000 Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences on campus?
00:00:22.000 Sure.
00:00:22.000 At Boston University, it was generally a hostile environment to myself and to my political views.
00:00:28.000 I remember more than once people would call me out on my way to the dining hall or just on my way outside to get groceries.
00:00:35.000 For my political views.
00:00:36.000 And it just got to the point where that's not a comfortable place and at times even a safe place to live.
00:00:41.000 So it was time for a change.
00:00:43.000 Would you say that the administration created a safe political environment for you to share your views?
00:00:49.000 I would say that the administration was actually, I think, pretty upstanding in terms of being welcoming to my views and supporting me.
00:00:57.000 I remember that they were the ones, after all, who set up the debate last year before the election for me to express my views.
00:01:05.000 Young Americans for Liberty, a venue to host that.
00:01:07.000 And so I think that the administration was actually more than tolerable and more than welcoming of my views.
00:01:14.000 It was really more the campus at large, the student body, I think, that was intolerant of those views.
00:01:21.000 So to transition, you attended a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina.
00:01:26.000 How did you feel participating in an event alongside members of the KKK and neo Nazis?
00:01:33.000 Well, I don't think it's entirely accurate to describe it as a white supremacist event.
00:01:37.000 I think you could say.
00:01:39.000 That there was certainly a predominant theme of white identitarianism, which is a big difference and a far cry from supremacism.
00:01:48.000 And I would say that additionally, most of the people that I was marching with, as someone who was on the ground, there were more than a thousand people in attendance.
00:01:55.000 And I will tell you that most of the people at Charlottesville were not KKK, were not Nazis, were not supremacists of any kind.
00:02:03.000 The majority of the people were good people, I believe, who just have a problem with mass immigration and this cultural sterilization that we're seeing.
00:02:12.000 In the South and against some of the Confederate monuments and history.
00:02:16.000 So, if you look at the event attendees, they come from all across the conservative political spectrum.
00:02:21.000 Where do you fall among these groups?
00:02:23.000 Would you consider yourself a member of the alt right?
00:02:27.000 I would describe myself more as a paleo conservative or a traditionalist conservative.
00:02:32.000 I find that the alt right is a little bit too edgy.
00:02:36.000 There are some things, I think, optics wise, that are a little bit not so sensible in terms of if you want to create a mass political movement.
00:02:44.000 So, I've maintained always that I am a Traditionalist conservative.
00:02:48.000 You've said that you've received death threats for your participation in Charlottesville.
00:02:52.000 Did this make you feel particularly unsafe here in Boston?
00:02:57.000 Yes, and I had received death threats for a long time.
00:03:00.000 I received death threats before the election, after the election, after the inauguration, several times in spring, and then they started to come around again after Charlottesville, of course, because some of the posts I made on Facebook went a bit viral among left and right wing people.
00:03:16.000 And it definitely made me feel unsafe because.
00:03:19.000 We had had some of those death threats investigated by the police before, and not a whole lot came of that.
00:03:25.000 So, I would say that I think that some of those threats were credible, and I didn't really see a lot of activity to stop those or to thwart those threats.
00:03:35.000 Were any of the threats that you received from Boston University students?
00:03:40.000 Yes, I believe several of them were from BU students.
00:03:43.000 And did you report any of these messages to the administration?
00:03:48.000 At that point, I had already been.
00:03:50.000 Transferred out of the university.
00:03:52.000 I mean, by the time that I had gotten those threats, and even by the time of Charlottesville, the paperwork had already been underway to withdraw from the university.
00:04:00.000 So, I didn't see really any need to report them given that I wasn't coming back to Boston.
00:04:06.000 So, you've said that you're going to Auburn, Alabama, where there are more like minded individuals.
00:04:11.000 But, do you believe that the increased media coverage that you've received will affect your chances of getting admitted to the school?
00:04:20.000 I think they may.
00:04:21.000 But also, I've been admitted into Auburn University twice before.
00:04:25.000 I was admitted after I graduated from high school in the fall of 2016, and I was admitted for the fall of 2017 as well.
00:04:34.000 I believe that Auburn University would actually have a lawsuit on their hands for discrimination if, for some reason, I was unable to get into a school, which, by the way, has a very high acceptance rate for a third time after there's this political and media circus.
00:04:49.000 So I would say that while that might be a concern, I think ultimately Auburn University will make the right call.
00:04:56.000 And if you do end up at Auburn, will you continue to be as politically outspoken as you were in Boston?
00:05:04.000 Absolutely.
00:05:04.000 Absolutely.
00:05:05.000 I think that, you know, while it's never easy to speak your mind and it's never easy to be sort of a black sheep and sort of be the dissident voice, especially among young people in this generation, I would say that's important.
00:05:18.000 And given my views and given what I believe in as to what the threat in this country is and what the problems in this country are, I think I would be actually complicit in what's going on if I weren't able to speak out and I wasn't continuing my activism, even though it might be difficult at times.
00:05:36.000 Well, thank you again, Nick, for joining us.
00:05:39.000 Thanks for having me.
00:05:40.000 We've heard from college Republicans, but what about students from different political parties?
00:05:45.000 On That Street, reporter Emily Page spoke to Boston University students about their thoughts of conservatism on campus.
00:05:52.000 Emily?
00:05:58.000 Thanks, Caitlin.
00:05:59.000 Issues of free speech and administrative involvement in politics affect every student on campus.
00:06:05.000 I went out to the George Sherman Union to discover what students believe is the right course of action.
00:06:09.000 I think the majority are left leaning in the student body.
00:06:12.000 I think there's a very anti Trump sentiment on campus.
00:06:16.000 I definitely say that a lot of the kids lean to the right.
00:06:19.000 From what I've seen, it's definitely we're more left leaning, more liberal.
00:06:22.000 Our campus in general has always been more left leaning.
00:06:25.000 The student body at BU leans left.
00:06:28.000 No matter what end of the spectrum is, people are going to be more vocal now that our president is in charge.
00:06:34.000 Everyone's more inflammatory on social media for sure.
00:06:39.000 I think in most of My classes, we lean towards the left, I would say.
00:06:44.000 I assume there are some professors with right wing views, but they don't seem to be as vocal about it.
00:06:48.000 I've never had a professor outright say that they were Republican or that they supported Trump.
00:06:53.000 I could understand why kids with even mild conservative views could feel the hostility and maybe not want to express that in class.
00:07:01.000 The political stance for professors are, you know, they're vocal, but they're not always going to go against what students say.
00:07:06.000 I've never felt like a professor has pushed their political opinion on me.
00:07:10.000 For the most part, the administration tries to keep.
00:07:13.000 Sort of quiet.
00:07:14.000 I haven't seen them do a lot.
00:07:17.000 I don't really know much of what the administration does.
00:07:19.000 I think we get like five emails from President Brown every year, and that's it.
00:07:23.000 I don't know how much I've seen other than the emails.
00:07:26.000 I think that the administration tries to be as neutral as possible.
00:07:29.000 The administration tries their best to start the dialogue, but I think at the end of the day, it's really up to the students to have that dialogue.
00:07:37.000 After speaking with students, it's clear that many think Boston University is a left leaning campus.
00:07:42.000 Still, most believe the administration tries to stay neutral in the political conversation.
00:07:47.000 Reporting for On That Street, I'm Emily Page.
00:07:55.000 Thanks, Emily.
00:07:57.000 Unfortunately, Boston University's Dean of Students Office was unavailable to appear on the show.
00:08:03.000 However, the office says At the Dean of Students Office, we encourage all voices to find their place at Boston University.
00:08:10.000 You can see this in the variety of political and social student organizations registered through the Student Activities Office.
00:08:17.000 And you will see it in the depth of our programming this academic year.
00:08:21.000 We do hope to foster productive dialogue surrounding current issues, both domestically and globally.
00:08:27.000 If a student ever feels threatened or harassed at any time, be it for the views they are expressing or any other reason, we encourage them to report the incident to the Boston University Police or our office.
00:08:39.000 And that does it for our episode of On That Point.
00:08:42.000 I'd like to thank our guests, Jack Moriarty and Nicholas Fuentes, alongside On That Street reporter Emily Page.
00:08:48.000 Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, add On That Point, and like us on Facebook.
00:08:53.000 Thank you for watching and we'll see you next time.