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“What do you think are the biggest threats facing Black families today?” Long read. “Do you feel that all viewpoints, including conservative ones, are welcome or heard on your campus?”
In the weeks after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, his wife vowed that his nonprofit, Turning Point USA, would continue touring college campuses. This fall, it has filled auditoriums at dozens of colleges with high-profile speakers including sitting governors, congresspeople, and Vice President JD Vance. Speakers have urged students to challenge their leftist professors in the classroom and devote their lives to Christ.
As conservative political leaders look to spread Kirk’s ideas about what they describe as leftist propaganda across higher education, some have turned their attention to the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities.
BLEXIT — an offshoot of Turning Point — is on a mission to recruit Black students. To do so, the group launched its “Educate to Liberate” tour, timed to coincide with homecoming season at some of the nation’s largest HBCUs.
But on some campuses, administrators described Long and other BLEXIT ambassadors as a security threat, escorted them off campus, and told them to not come back. BLEXIT organizers say that amounts to censorship.
In September, days after Kirk’s death, two men from a conservative group called The Fearless Tour drove to Tennessee State University toting signs that read “DEI should be illegal” and “Deport all illegals now! Let’s talk.”
In a video that went viral, they were seen being surrounded by dozens of TSU students shouting at them to leave. The men were later escorted off campus by university security.
A week after the incident, BLEXIT announced its tour, promising to “bring conservative values to life” and spark “powerful conversations.” Online, it was criticized as a ploy to agitate Black people.
“HBCUs are one of our few safe spaces in this country,” one Instagram user wrote on BLEXIT’s post. “This tour is opening the door for violence against these institutions that have been under attack since their inception.”
Christopher Wyche, an organizer for BLEXIT, said that when he hopped on a Zoom call with Florida A&M University officials last month to figure out security logistics for the group’s visit, he was badgered by more than a dozen FAMU officials. “What’s your group’s purpose?”, he said they asked. How could he ensure that BLEXIT’s tour “doesn’t end up just like a Charlie Kirk situation?”
One day before BLEXIT’s visit, FAMU officials told Wyche he would need to reschedule for a later date in a secure venue, a university spokesperson confirmed to The Chronicle.
“We have gatekeepers who are preventing different ideologies, different thought processes, from reaching the student body,” said Wyche, a FAMU alum. “I was kind of embarrassed.”
A FAMU spokesperson did not respond to further requests for comment.
Before BLEXIT’s stop at Howard University’s homecoming, administrators sent an email to students.
“...We strongly encourage you not to engage with individuals or groups whose actions may disrupt the celebratory atmosphere or the environment of mutual respect that we all work so diligently to maintain,” the letter said.
Some students encouraged people to confront the BLEXIT influencers.
“The real content of the Blexit platform must be opposed, and its shameless propagandists held accountable,” Revolutionary Youth Community, a student-led group at Howard, posted on Instagram. “We encourage, in particular, HU political organizations to engage directly through means of agitation, disruption, or confrontation. Inaction is not an option.”
During Howard’s homecoming, a group called Refuse Fascism followed a BLEXIT activist around with signs that read “Trump Must Go Now,” according to The Washington Post.
The movement traces its roots to 2019, when Candace Owens, the former communications director of Turning Point USA and a conservative media personality, established the BLEXIT Foundation as a nonprofit organization focused on shifting Black voters away from the Democratic party. In 2023, BLEXIT merged under Kirk’s Turning Point USA.
BLEXIT now has more than 40,000 members, according to its website.
Pierre Wilson, BLEXIT’s executive director, said he was mainly taught a side of American history that perpetuates Black “victim mentality” when he attended University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, an HBCU.
“We’re not here to force anyone to believe anything, but we do want to make sure people have the full picture, so they can make an informed decision about where their beliefs lie,” Wilson said. “We feel like Educate to Liberate is the only way that that can happen, because we can’t really lean on the schools to do it themselves.”
Long, the influencer who was reading questions off his phone, has amassed more than 500,000 followers on TikTok. He argues that Democratic policies do not benefit Black Americans and have become tools to keep Black families reliant on government assistance.
On a recent Friday, The Chronicle followed Long as he spoke to more than a dozen people at Hampton’s homecoming.
“We’re just gonna go and have fun,” Long said. “And talk to our people.”
Microphone in hand and videographer in tow, Long waded through the crowd, looking for willing participants.
“Would you like to be a part of a video?” he asked a group of women making their way through the drove of people.
“Absolutely not,” one responded, leading her friends away.
“Hell no,” others said in response.
Long then approached Reggie Johnson, a 1980 graduate.
“Do you think Black people still believe in the American dream?” Long asked.
Johnson questioned whether the “American dream” should be defined by consumerism. “To me, being more healthy and living a longer life is worth more,” Johnson said.
They then traded stories about their families. Johnson said he was married to his wife for more than 30 years before she died of cancer. To a question from Long about education, Johnson, a former teacher, said school choice creates resource disparities for students and teachers.
“I don’t think that a student should be stuck in a particular school zone just based off where they live,” Long said. “If we’re able to provide them with a voucher, they can go to another school to get a better education.”
They shook hands.
“Do you feel that our conversation was beneficial? Or clickbait or something?” Long asked.
“No, not at all,” Johnson replied. “You kept it real.”
A few students at Hampton saw BLEXIT’s presence as a way to challenge what they view as narrow campus politics.
“There’s definitely a level of conservatism at HBCUs, and people, especially Black people, don’t realize how conservative they can get,” said Sanaa Duncan, a senior at Hampton. “We’re told to kind of express ourselves, but Hampton has their own set of rules, which kind of limit us in the long run.”
About 40 minutes into his visit, Long was approached by a security guard. “You’ve got to have a permit to be here,” he said.
Long pointed to a student carrying a camera and tripod, asking whether the security guard required them to have a permit.
“They didn’t report him,” the security guard said.
“So, somebody reported me?” Long asked.
“Yes,” the guard replied.
The security guard left and Long continued on with his visit. Less than an hour later, a university police officer demanded Long leave campus.
“What did we do wrong?” Long asked. “It’s a public event and there are people with cameras doing the same thing. Why are we being targeted?”
“The people that make the decisions and work here do not want you on the property,” the officer said before issuing Long and the videographer a verbal “ban” from the campus.
On his Instagram days later, Long described the experience of speaking with students and alumni as “electric.”
“We will not be intimidated. We will not be quiet,” Long wrote. “Because real diversity means hearing every Black voice, not just the ones that echo the crowd.”
BLEXIT, Hampton said in a press release, did not complete the required application for homecoming or pay the associated fees.
“This was not a matter of suppression,” they wrote. “It was a matter of safety, procedure, and fairness.”
