Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been roundly vilified by the left even after he was acquitted of charges related to a shooting at a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has recently embarked on a college speaking tour in association with the conservative organization Turning Point USA.
Just days after a mob heckled him and taunted attendees at the University of Memphis, a similar student uprising was reported during an appearance at Western Kentucky University.
At least some of the protesters were identified as affiliates of the Black Lives Matter movement and railed against Rittenhouse despite the fact that the three men he shot — in what a court determined to be an act of self-defense — were White.
Several students explained why they were participating in an effort to stifle his ability to engage in free speech on the campus.
“We are here, we’re using our voice and we’re letting people know that we’re not going to sit in silence and let this happen on our campus,” declared Naomi Desrosiers.
Aunetrae Johnson complained that protesters felt that their “voices aren’t being heard,” which is notable due to the fact that protesters near the venue and nearly 1,200 people as of this writing who signed a petition online specifically sought to prevent Rittenhouse from having his voice heard.
“Allowing Mr. Rittenhouse to speak could potentially create an unsafe environment for students who are already dealing with enough stress from their classload, aside from the continued threat of violence,” theorized the organizer of the Change.org petition.
In addition to chants and derogatory chants aimed at Rittenhouse and his supporters, a number of protesters held signs with messages including “No Justice, No Peace.”
Protester encourages the crowd to shut down the event at Western Kentucky University: “They shut him down in Memphis. WKU shut him down!”@TPUSA | @Julio_Rosas11 pic.twitter.com/0eV9DN1B5C
— FRONTLINES (@FrontlinesTPUSA) March 28, 2024
For his part, protester Patrick Eckels showed up in opposition to “Turning Point USA as an organization” because he does not “support a lot of the things they support.”
A number of counter-protesters also made their opinions known, including Ben Leneave who defended Rittenhouse’s actions in Kenosha.
“When the rioters end up chasing you, trying to hit you with a skateboard and carrying a Glock and pointing it at you, I don’t blame him doing what he did to defend himself.”
