Bill O'Reilly alma mater foots bill to secure speech by guy who denies slavery's lasting impact
Not everyone was forced indoors by frozen temperature last week.
After the sun fell on Wednesday, in front of Boston University’s Track and Tennis Center, a crowd of protesters, mainly comprised of BU students, stood for hours in solidarity. Their stance marked their position against the speaker inside the building, far-right barker Ben Shapiro, who addressed a sold-out crowd for a talk billed “America Wasn’t Built on Slavery, It Was Built on Freedom.”
Attendees came from both the college and general populations, with plenty of MAGA hats and Trump jerseys on display in the pre-show line. Matthew Reiad and David Coelho, two young fans of Ben Shapiro, were at the front, with the former eager to talk about his interest in the event.
“The title is pretty eye-catching,” Reiad said. “Obviously we both can’t agree with that statement until we find out the backing of it. It’s almost like clickbait. If it was, like, a conversation about slavery in the United States, then that’s kind of boring and historical.”
Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the conservative Daily Wire, host of the Ben Shapiro Show podcast, and former Breitbart editor, centered his speech on decrying the idea that the legacy of slavery has an affect on the current state of racial and economic affairs in the United States. Protest organizer Simeon Webb, a Boston University junior in the College of Communication, was glad that the school community came together, unafraid, to clap back with a collective voice.
Read more: https://digboston.com/bill-oreilly-alma-mater-foots-bill-to-secure-speech-by-guy-who-denies-slaverys-lasting-impact/