Student Who Attended Charlottesville White Supremacist Rally Leaves Boston University After Backlash

An 18-year-old who participated in the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., said he has chosen to leave Boston University after receiving threats because of his beliefs.

“Massachusetts, and Boston in particular, are among the most left wing states and cities,” Nicholas Fuentes told the Boston Globe on Tuesday, describing the campus and city as “very dangerous.” Fuentes said that he has received 15 death threats via email and social media in the past week.

“Probably anywhere I would go would be safer than Boston,” said Fuentes, a supporter of President Donald Trump who runs his own political YouTube channel.

One woman was killed and many were injured when a man believed to be a white supremacist drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville on Saturday. Fuentes told the Globe he had attended the rally to protest immigration and multiculturalism, but said he was not a white nationalist or racist. “The rally was about not replacing white people,” he said.

Boston University President Robert Brown on Thursday condemned the Charlottesville violence ahead of a “free speech” rally set to take place in Boston on Saturday. Some right-wing extremists are slated to speak at the rally, and Boston leaders have spoken out against hate and violence in advance.

“Palpably evil acts, such as occurred in Charlottesville, invite the challenging question about what is and is not tolerable or morally acceptable in speech and accompanying deeds,” Brown said in a letter to the university community. “It is clear to me, and I believe it a view that is broadly shared in our community, that a claim of inherent racial or ethnic superiority is abhorrent. We must, I believe, explicitly denounce white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups that make such claims.”