From Staff Reports

After U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-Flat Rock, called on UNC Asheville to cancel its “Until We’re All Free: State Violence from Cop City to Palestine” event that was scheduled Nov. 3 on the UNCA campus, the program was suddenly postponed late in the night, sources speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Daily Planet on Nov. 3. 

Edwards called the event “woke, hateful and anti-Semitic.”

When and if it occurs, the event was promoted as featuring panelists who each explore “a different aspect of anti-black or anti-Indigenous state violence that connects the United States and Israel.”

Edwards said in a Nov. 2 press release the following:

“U.S. Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11) today condemns the ‘Until We’re All Free’ event funded by taxpayer dollars scheduled for tomorrow at the campus of the University of North Carolina Asheville, and urges UNCA to cancel this event that is designed to normalize and espouse hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric.

“The event, titled ‘Until We’re All Free: State Violence from Cop City to Palestine’ at the Highsmith Student Union, is touted as “preparing students, faculty, and community members to think critically about American complicity in Israeli violence.”

At the end of his Nov 2 press release, Edwards included the following statement:

“The anti-Semitic event that is scheduled to be held at the Highsmith Student Union, supported by woke radical leftists on the UNCA campus, is just one of several such rallies we have seen across the country. Western North Carolinians and Americans everywhere must disavow and condemn events that encourage anti-Semitism and inspire violence,” 

“It’s not only hard to believe that an institution like UNCA would allow this event on campus, it’s difficult to comprehend how multiple taxpayer-funded departments at UNCA sponsored this ‘Hamas Open House.’

“These are folks who condemn everyone else for racism, yet this event demonstrates the purest form of racism by encouraging young, impressionable students to hate their fellow man because of their ethnicity, background or creed. This event is just another example of racist hypocrisy while the panelists and participants hide behind anonymity by banning cell phones from the event.

“Let’s fight the growing tide of anti-Semitism around the world, starting by speaking out against every kind of hate.

“The ‘Until We’re All Free’ event is supported by the UNCA’s departments of Sociology and Anthropology; Women, Gender, and Sexualities Studies; American Indian and Indigenous Studies; Africana Studies; and the Interdisciplinary/International Studies.”

The Daily Planet contacted Edwards’ office for further comment on Nov. 3, and on Nov. 5 received from his spokeswoman Maria Kim a copy of the senator’s original press release with no additional comment.