Royal Oak High School students protest new Turning Point USA chapter

A protest broke out after Turning Point USA announced its chapter would debut at a high school in suburban Detroit.

Residents and students of the Royal Oak High School (ROHS) community gathered to protest the TPUSA chapter before its first meeting was held.

A flyer promoting the protest states that a student organized a “March Against Hate and Violence” on October 22 “in opposition to the Landmark USA coming to our school.”

“We will sit in class and then leave. Bring your belongings with you,” the brochure reads.

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Bruno, president of ROHS’ TPUSA chapter, told Fox News Digital he expected a small response, but not to the extent the chapter received.

“We haven’t even had our first meeting yet. It was just a flyer for people to attend and share their interest with us if they wanted to come. The hate we received just exploded,” he said.

Jaden Bennett, one of the Michigan high school field representatives for TPUSA, which covers metro Detroit, said there were dozens of students protesting the section that was created.

“Some of the protesting students were questioning the principal,” he added.

In addition to the protest, a student group called the Royal Oak Student Voice published a memo criticizing TPUSA for its platform, claiming that the group masquerades as a nonprofit civic group when in reality it is a “white supremacist” group.

“But in reality, Turning Point USA is the main thrust of white supremacist, anti-LGBTQ, violent, anti-woman propaganda directed at young audiences. Below are quotes from the main spokesperson at Turning Point USA events. These are not political views. These are examples of Turning Point USA’s othering and hateful views. If that’s not enough, check their website for videos and podcasts,” the student group said.

Residents and students of the Royal Oak High School (ROHS) community gathered to protest the TPUSA chapter before its first meeting was held.

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United Royal Oak Students also drafted a “Constitution Against Hate.” The constitution stated that the school board was ignorant in approving the “pro-hate” section.

Bennett led the effort to start a TPUSA chapter at ROHS. Bruno and other students chose the major on Oct. 15, Bennett said. The episode was approved by the director on October 21.

Outrage ensued within the first two hours after the TPUSA episode aired on Instagram. While there are only 15 followers on the department’s social media account, more than 300 comments were made on the first post.

Many of the comments called for the group to be removed.

“Students say: You’re full of hate, you’re a Nazi, oh my God, you’re a fascist, Charlie hated gays, Charlie’s a racist, how can you encourage that?” Bennett said.

Residents and students of the Royal Oak High School (ROHS) community gathered to protest the TPUSA chapter before its first meeting was held. (Jaden Bennett)

Residents and students of the Royal Oak High School (ROHS) community gathered to protest the TPUSA chapter before its first meeting was held. (Jaden Bennett)

Over the next 48 hours, the backlash escalated, with some comments spewing death threats.

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“Within about 24, 48 hours… they collected over 900 Instagram comments on this post. Maybe 100 were positive, meaning supportive. Most of them were my students and other field representatives,” Bennett said.

Since Kirk’s assassination, Bennett has received numerous requests to star in episodes.

“Before Charlie died, I was doing a lot of outreach through social media and exposure to community connections and parent connections,” Bennett said.

“Students have been reaching out since Charlie passed away; I would say that 90% of our students who are participating now seem to have reached out completely on their own. We have almost 3,000 chapters in the high school and the high school department.”

Charlie Kirk was a conservative activist who ran Turning Point USA. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Bruno assumed leadership of the TPUSA chapter because he believed that everyone deserved to have a voice in discussions.

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“People tell me why don’t we just start a Republican club? It’s more about the Republican part of the party. It’s not about Republicans and religion. And it’s about having open discussions with people who have different views, so we can take their side and argue our side.”

ROHS administrators did not immediately respond to a request for comment.