HomeCity NewsElder Delivers Another Perspective at Flintridge Prep

Elder Delivers Another Perspective at Flintridge Prep

In the interest of equal time, Flintridge Prep welcomed conservative thinker Larry Elder to campus this week.
Congressmen Adam Schiff came by and stumped for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during his visit last month. On Tuesday, Elder took the stage at Norris Auditorium and made a case for Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Elder called Trump his 20th choice in what was originally a 17-candidate primary field, but said “never in a million years” would he vote for Clinton over Trump.
Invited by members of the Flintridge Prep Republican Club, Elder was greeted politely by the same crowd that had cheered heartily for Schiff, who also stayed for about an hour and answered topical questions from students.
Before he took those questions, Elder delivered a forceful presentation that touched on everything from the economy and taxes, to racism and the hot topic of the moment — the “Trump Tapes.”
“This was a middle-aged man on a bus with 20-something-year-old guys trying to show that he still had it,” said Elder of the now-famous video that captured Trump making lewd comments alongside television personality Billy Bush on an Access Hollywood bus. “Men are often insecure like that and, in my opinion, that was what was going on.”
Republican Club president Christian Yeghnazar and his fellow club members took turns directing questions at Elder, a lawyer and writer who hosts “The Larry Elder Show” on the 790 KABC radio station.
Elder, who is black, responded to a question about the Black Lives Matter movement by calling it “the biggest fraud perpetuated on the black community since the O.J. Simpson case.” That statement drew an audible murmur from the otherwise contained, attentive crowd.
“Obviously, at a school like this, Mr. Elder’s views aren’t going to be as popular as, say, Mr. Schiff’s,” said senior Danny Chiarodit, the vice president of the Republican Club. “But it’s just as important to hear what he has to say, and I really appreciate how the audience was really respectful. I thought it was a good experience.”
Elder went on to suggest that activists counsel young black men to “first of all, comply.”
He said that law enforcement personnel have no obligation to be friendly, and the public has no legal right to resist. He also presented statistics indicating that, in the past 25 years, police shootings of black people have been reduced while police shootings of white people have flat-lined.
“There are twice as many white people killed by police every year than black people,” said Elder of data that shows that 50% of the victims of fatal police shootings in 2015 were white while 26% were black. (Black people make up 14% of the total U.S. population, according to 2010 census data.)
“I go to the barbershop, I get my shoes shined, I’m around black people,” Elder said. “I know how they feel — they’re wrong.”
Yeghnazar was glad his peers would get to make that determination for themselves after listening to both speakers.
“I loved it,” said Yeghnazar, a senior. “It was good for people to hear the other side. We were lucky to have him come speak to us.”

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