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White Supremacist Flyers Surface At UW-Superior

College Campuses Seeing Increased White Supremacist Outreach

Yellowjacket Union on UW-Superior's campus
Danielle Kaeding/WPR

The University of Wisconsin-Superior is investigating white supremacist flyers put up on campus stating, “Don’t apologize for being white.”

Flyers that read “I want you to love who you are. Don’t apologize for being white,” and “Tired of anti-white propaganda? Stand up for yourself,” were first noticed Thursday.

UW-Superior Chancellor Renee Wachter said the university is trying to find out who is responsible for posting the flyers and said the flyers’ statements conflict with campus values.

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The flyer featuring Uncle Sam saying, “I want you to love who you are. Don’t apologize for being white,” was posted in buildings on the UW-Superior campus. Photo Courtesy of American Renaissance

“We want to make sure that No. 1 that students … feel safe. So ensuring that our students feel like this is a welcoming campus, it’s a campus that’s supportive of diversity and that they are safe in being here,” she said.

Nigerian UW-Superior student Confidence Idim said he has mixed feelings about the flyers. “It’s a really scary thing, but I also feel like it’s a way to show witness so people can see that racism is not yet gone,” he said.

The flyers come from the website American Renaissance. The website’s editor, Jared Taylor, said the site’s goal is to preserve white identity and a white majority in the United States.

“Our purpose is to wake whites up to the crisis they face if they’re unwilling to stand up for their own interests,” Taylor said.
“One of the obvious interests of whites is to not let themselves become a minority in the United States through immigration of nonwhites.

“Also, it’s very much in the interest of whites not constantly to be taking the blame for the failures of people of other races,” Taylor continued.

There is reason to believe the flyers were posted by someone from outside the campus community, said Jerel Benton, director of equity, diversity and inclusion at UW-Superior.

“Reason being is, one, from the student perspective, none of the flyers were found in the residence halls,” Benton said.

Flyers were discovered in the Holden Fine Arts Center and Swenson Hall on campus.

When asked if racism is a problem on campus, Benton said, “Absolutely not.”

“I don’t believe that’s the case,” Benton said. “Do we have some opportunities to do some education where people are more culturally aware? I think absolutely.”

The university is exploring diversity training and education opportunities that they hope to provide this fall, Benton said.

Wachter said the flyers have been removed and the university will continue monitoring buildings should they reappear.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, they’ve tracked more than 100 incidents of white supremacist outreach on college campuses since last fall. The league’s analysis reports flyers and posters from groups, including American Renaissance, have been reported in at least 25 states.

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