Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters.
The Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, AZ, has canceled plans to host an upcoming “immigration conference” by the white nationalist group VDare. It is the third time this year that VDare has unsuccessfully attempted to schedule a conference.
VDare runs a racist website that’s been heavily criticized by civil rights groups for pushing white nationalism. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the white nationalist site “regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites.” The Anti-Defamation League wrote that VDare is a racist site that “posts, promotes, and archives the work of racists, anti-immigrant figures, and anti-Semites.”
Headlines on VDare include: “One Problem With These Hispanic Immigrants Is Their Disgusting Behavior,” “Indians Aren`t That Intelligent (On Average),” “Diversity Is Strength! It’s Also…Hispanic Immigrants Taking Over FBI’s Ten Most Wanted,” “America Does Not Need ANY Immigrants From Africa,” and “Roll Over, JIHAD—There’s Also HIJRA, Muslim Conquest By Immigration.”
VDare is so bad that even the editor in chief for Breitbart privately called it “racist,” according to reporting by BuzzFeed (despite that private condemnation, Breitbart has publicly defended VDare).
VDare has been promoting an upcoming “immigration conference” in March that would have featured “all the most controversial immigration patriots in one place.” The stated venue for the conference was the Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, AZ, which is owned by HSL Properties.
In a statement sent to Media Matters, the Hilton El Conquistador management announced that the hotel had canceled the event: “The safety and security of our guests and employees is of the utmost importance. After careful consideration, the hotel has decided to terminate its contract with VDare. We will not be hosting the event previously booked at the Hilton El Conquistador for March of 2018.”
This is the third time that VDare has recently had a conference canceled. It previously tried to host gatherings in Yosemite National Park and Colorado Springs, CO.
VDare does not appear to have announced who would have spoken at the Tucson event. Past speakers have included Breitbart columnist and former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who demonized immigrants as dangerous and disloyal invaders; writer John Derbyshire, who has described himself as “a mild and tolerant” “racist” and “homophobe” and was fired from the National Review after he penned a column suggesting that white and Asian parents warn their children about the supposed threats posed by black people; and VDare leader Peter Brimelow, who has warned that nonwhite immigrants are destroying the country.
