Dartmouth College professor, Mark Bray was on Meet the Press where he advocated for preemptive violence by groups like AntiFA.
Bray argued that violence is necessary to stop white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups from getting too normalized or powerful, framing the issue as one of self-defense.
“A lot of people are under attack,” Bray said, “and sometimes they need to be able to defend themselves. It’s a privileged position to say you never have to defend yourself from these monsters.”
Bray, who is a visiting scholar at the Gender Research Institute at Dartmouth (GRID) has views so extreme that Southern Poverty Law Center president Richard Cohen took issue with them.
“No one is saying that if you’re slugged in the face you have to sit there and take it,” Cohen said. “The question here is, when white nationalists want to walk down the street, should people stop them? That’s a very different issue.”
“I think it’s a spectacularly bad idea,” Cohen argued, “to give one group the right to silence another group of people. It’s contrary to our values embodied in the First Amendment.”
Bray is the author of ANTIFA – THE ANTI-FASCIST HANDBOOK whose comments have earned him the attention of Dartmouth College President Phil Hanlon, who was quick to distance the Ivy League mainstay from the Gender Research Institute at Dartmouth professor.
Recent statements made by Lecturer in History Mark Bray supporting violent protest do not represent the views of Dartmouth. As an institution, we condemn anything but civil discourse in the exchange of opinions and ideas. Dartmouth embraces free speech and open inquiry in all matters, and all on our campus enjoy the freedom to speak, write, listen and debate in pursuit of better learning and understanding; however, the endorsement of violence in any form is contrary to Dartmouth values.
Take that!
So when can we expect someone at Dartmouth to point out that the author of an anti-fascist handbook not only advocates fascism but encourages it to advance his worldview?
And how soon could we expect him to call his lawyer after someone randomly punches him in the face in an effort to end his fascism?
