Call in to Cancel Tomi Lahren, Riverside CA

Call from Cactus Collective to put community pressure on the Mission Inn to cancel Alt-Lite media personality speaking event.

Far-Right hate preacher Tomi Lahren is most known for being a surrogate for Donald Trump as well as an online personality and talk show host. She regularly goes on anti-black tirades, using just about every dog whistle in the white supremacist dictionary. Lahren has also publicly expressed transphobic and xenophobic sentiment. She has stated full and unwavering support for the gangs of murderous, predatory, family separating, child abusing ICE and DHS agencies. Lahren has a tour date scheduled for July 21st at Riverside’s Fox Theater. Fox Theater should be ashamed to offer a platform to someone like Lahren to spread fascism. We, the community of Riverside are stepping up to demand that the venue cancel Lahren’s event and issue a formal apology to the black, Chicanx, undocumented and LGBT+ residents of the Inland Empire. We feel that the recent history of the IE gives us the right to put our foot down and say enough is enough!

The IE has had a long history as a stronghold for fascism in California. There have been chapters of the KKK, National Socialist Movement (NSM) and Aryan Brotherhood over the last few decades. The KKK hasn’t been seen in ages, NSM fell apart after the murder of Jeff Hall by his own son, and the Aryan Brotherhood no longer has a council this far east. There have also been lesser known white supremacist gangs scattered throughout the IE, such as the Nazi Low Riders and the IE skins. More recently we’ve seen a combination of various neo-Nazi groups operating on college campuses, like Identity Evropa, Proud Boys and the Traditionalist Worker Party/Youth Network. There has also been a sharp increase in the so-called “libertarian” militia movement. If you live in the IE, 3%er stickers are a familiar sight. This sharp incline, coupled with a general xenophobic reaction from white residents has been incredibly dangerous in the past.

In June of 2017, the Inland Empire saw all of these fascist reactionaries come together for ACT for America’s anti Muslim rallies. One of the scheduled dates was in San Bernardino, where Denise Ruiz aka Denise Leyba of Upland CA, aimed to capitalize on the 2015 attack on the Inland Regional center which left 14 people dead. She claimed to be paying respects to the victims, but she also happened to bring together the most disgusting coalition of fascists, nationalists and neo-Nazis. Further research uncovered that Denise had personally invited members of Oath Keepers, 3%ers and Proud Boys to work “security.” Also present was DIY Division from Orange county, a neo-Nazi street gang. Not one antifascist was killed, arrested or seriously injured that day, which was nothing short of a miracle. However, two months later in Charlottesvile, they would commit the murder of Heather Heyer.

DIY division actually made the trip to Virginia for Unite the Right, but the majority of those involved in the ACT for America rally were homegrown right here in the Inland Empire. All it took for them to get connected was one event where they felt safe and secure meeting in public. This is exactly why we oppose Tomi Lahren’s Riverside event. All the elements to recreate a fascist street movement are present in our community. We cannot allow a post – Unite the Right movement to come to fruition in the Inland empire. Join us in demanding that the Fox Theater refuse to aid in the spread of fascism!

When to call: July 5th-6th, 12PM-6PM
Phone number: 951-779-9804
Address: 3801 Mission Inn Avenue Riverside, CA 92501

Sample script:

“hi, my name is ____. I’m calling about an event that fox theater scheduled for July 21st, Tomi Lahren’s speaking tour. I was shocked to learn that this venue is comfortable being used as a platform for hate speech. Tomi Lahren is obviously a racist, a transphobe and a xenophobe and I do not want that bigotry in my community, or anywhere else. The only thing that fox theater can do to make this right is refuse to be a platform for hatred, and cancel her event.”