FORT MYERS, Fla. -- As the University of Florida braces for White Nationalist Leader, Richard Spencer, to give a speech on campus, many are left caught in the middle. The NAACP Lee County President, James Muwakil, predicts that the speech will bring major controversy on campus.
"Is there going to be more confrontation like we’ve seen in Charlottesville, yeah," he said.
Charlottesville, Virginia was the last place to see a White Nationalist rally. It ended with one woman killed and more than 30 people. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency last week. He cited the clashes that have come from Spencer's past events on college campuses.
Muwakil believes that Spencer will be speaking to more that just his own hate groups.
“[Richard Spencer's] base is the hate part of America which exists in universities across this nation. He won’t entirely be speaking to hate groups that are in the area, no. He will be speaking directly to some of the students and some of the staff that share his views," said Muwakil.
Florida Gulf Coast Students weighed in on the speech. They say no matter what you believe everyone has their First Amendment right.
“Freedom of speech is apart of the constitution. And if you want the freedom of speech, you have to understand that somebody else is going to get the right to say what they want,” said Sabrina Lynch, FGCU freshman.
Another student explained that he disagrees with Spencer's beliefs, but if the speech were at FGCU it wouldn't bother him.
“There’s going to be plenty of things that try to suppress you and put you down," said Javier, a FGCU student. "There’s no point in paying attention to those things, might as well take perspective into the bigger picture and do your own thing.”
However, Muwakil offered a different point of view of how students should handle these situations.
"If I were a University of Florida student, specially if you’re African American, I would protest." said Muwakil.
The speech is set for 2:30 ET Thursday.
