New Chair Of Texas College Republicans Sparked Controversy At UTA For Flag Burning Protest On 9/11 Anniversary

[Thanks to the tipster who let us know about this.--VL]

Last month, the Texas Federation of College Republicans elected a new Chairman: Lance Kennedy. Although it was not reported by the MainStream Media at the time, Kennedy is a pick who is anything but benign and has been the subject of significant controversy at UT Arlington. Why? Because of a little 9/11anniversary protest in 2006 that involved burning flags and pictures from various countries.

From Fort Worth Weekly:

On this year’s 9/11 anniversary, a crowd of perhaps 100 gathered to watch as Lance Kennedy, Alex Kloster, and Ansel Gaddy took turns standing on a chair and using a megaphone to criticize the governments of North Korea and Iran. Then they doused images of the countries’ flags and pictures of their leaders, Kim Jong-Il and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in charcoal lighter fluid and burned them in a metal washtub. Americans have grown accustomed — though not inured — to seeing their own country’s flag being burned by crowds in other countries, but not other countries’ symbols being burned by Americans. And while the crowd was generally civil, the freshmen’s actions obviously stirred strong emotions.

“This is the rally against the enemies of the United States,” said Kennedy, 19, from Coppell, as the images burned. “In no way is this protest against the people of their two nations.”

The students’ objective, according to Kennedy, a Libertarian, was to create a discussion about Korea’s and Iran’s human rights violations, nuclear ambitions, and threat to the United States. The students said they chose to do it on 9/11 because of the powerful symbolism that the day holds.

It is interesting it also notes that Kennedy was a “Libertarian” at the time of the protests.

UTA’s student newspaper, The Shorthorn, also covered the incident. The Shorthorn story quotes Kennedy as follows:

Kennedy said he and his fellow students, political science freshman Alex Kloster and mechanical engineering freshman Ansel Gaddy, held the rally to draw attention to what they feel is the largest threat to national security: nuclear missiles.

“We want to highlight the issues at hand,” Kennedy said. “Burning the flags was the most efficient way to get the word out. People jump on flag burnings.”

There is also video footage of the incident on YouTube:

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