All Hell Breaks Loose at Dillard University Debate with David Duke

LOUISIANA–(ENEWSPF)–November 3, 2016

A police officer pushes his way outside to keep protesters at bay, before a debate for Louisiana candidates for the U.S. Senate, at Dillard University in New Orleans, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. They were protesting the presence of former Ku Klux Klan leader and current U.S. Senate candidate David Duke, who was participating in the debate at the historically black college. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

So, the brilliants minds over at Raycom Media decided to have a debate for six candidates running for a vacant Unite States Senate seat from Louisiana. They decided to have this debate at an HBCU—Historically Black College/University—named Dillard University in New Orleans. They included notorious white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan national leader David Duke, ‘cause he’s one of the candidates for the Senate seat. But they excluded the student body of Dillard University, the historically black college university. Naturally, things got ugly:

Protesters were pepper-sprayed after former KKK leader David Duke was on Dillard University campus for a U.S. Senate debate on Wednesday night.

After hours of protesting, many were confronted by police after the school allowed Duke on the historic black campus.

“You defended the people that fight against us, the people that enslaved us. That is who y’all defended you ain’t (expletive). You ain’t (expletive). You don’t deserve your peace,” Guss Moore, a protester said. […]

“They started releasing pepper spray,” said Annah Galloway. “They sprayed this girl directly in the face with it. I was covered on my shirt, my arms, my face — they are pepper-spraying. They are body slamming people.”

Video from the Daily Mail showing some of the clash between students and police is below the fold.

Dillard University officials say they weren’t responsible for the debate, they only rented use of the facility. Although it was a tad bit audacious to not allow students into a building on their own campus, the students weren’t actually protesting not being able to attend the debate. They were protesting Duke’s presence with his history representing white supremacist terrorism on a black university campus, and not being able to attend. According to NPR, “from the debate stage, Duke acknowledged the protests and blamed them on “radicals” from the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Duke is running for the seat being left vacant by Republican David Vitter who’s retiring.