Charlie Kirk, Founder of Turning Point USA, spoke at the Student Union Ballroom on Monday night. As a part of his Live Free Tour, free tickets were available for his 30-minute talk and 1-hour Q and A session.
According to the Turning Point USA website, “TPUSA is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom”.
The Live Free Tour is one of the campus tours “to protect free speech and encourage freedom of thought,” according to the website.
Turning Point USA is a nonprofit conservative, anti-left group that supports defense of freedom, free markets, and limited government, according to its website.
The coalition Students Against Fascism protested at the Student Union patio outside of the event. The coalition included students from Students for a Democratic Society, Students Against Mass Incarceration, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Students for a Quality Education, Students for a Fair Tuition and other groups.
Math sophomore Tarentz Charite, representing Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Students Against Fascism coalition, said SDS spent about a year building power and collaborating with other organizations, in between their on-campus counter-protest to Turning Point SJSU’s anti-abortion and anti-reproductive rights rally last semester, and the Charlie Kirk event.
“Even between that time we were out here. We were at City Hall, we were there protesting for police accountability after a drug scandal within the San José City police union,” Charite said.
Charite said he is proud that SDS and other organizations were finally brought together through connections.
“That's what SDS is about. It's about platforming, amplifying, bringing up any type of little liberation on campus, what people want to see happen and we're going to make it happen,” he said.
Charite said he wants every person on campus to show up for themselves, and that you deserve to be there no matter what.
“But at the end of the day, it's going to have to depend on whether you're going to show for yourself or not,” Charite said.
Charite said the protestors at the event don’t just represent the coalition, but the people and students as a whole, from all types of backgrounds.
“We're here to fight for students. We're here to fight for people, to fight for faculty. That's why we're wearing our shirts for the CFA [California Faculty Association]. We're here to fight for everyone. And they're here to fight against everyone, and they're gonna lose.
Charite said the protesters anticipated that SJSU would hold the event in the University Theater, but it came out the night before that it would be held in the ballroom.
Last protest, Charite said they were blocked from entering by police.
He also said security at the event closed the west entrance to the Student Union, and going inside was not an option for protesters.
Political science junior Anthony Medina-Alvarez said he is not majorly affiliated with any club.
Medina-Alvarez said he arrived a little late, but when he got there an overwhelming crowd of people believed the country was ‘under attack.’
“There's a lot of people feeling very adverse against trans individuals, gay individuals, and against a lot of different issues. And personally, I didn't feel threatened by it, as a queer man,” Medina-Alvarez said. “I didn't feel like I was in a dangerous place. I felt like the place was a bit different, but I was open to discussion, and I'm open to hearing what people have to say, because that's what I'm here for. First and foremost.”
Medina-Alvarez said he had his own silent protest at the event.
“I didn't really stand up or say anything or clap or anything. I just want to observe there and just understand what's really happening. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen so many people who were so adversely and openly against, you know, a different identity,” Medina-Alvarez said.
Medina-Alvarez said the speech had a lot of average conservative talking points, but nothing that stood out to him.
