"America, at the end of the day, belongs to white men."

This is what 'Identarian' and Alt-Right leader Richard Spencer had to say when he visited Texas A&M University in December 2016.

Spencer called for white people to stand up and "have an identity" in front of a restless crowd of about 400 attendees while many more protested outside. After the unrest that accompanied Spencer's first visit, the university certainly was not chomping at the bit to have him invited back, especially upon consideration of the chaos and riots that broke out between Alt-Right/White Supremacist demonstrators and counter-protesters in the small college town of Charlottesville, Virginia.

So when the headline "TODAY CHARLOTTESVILLE, TOMORROW TEXAS A&M" made it's appearance, suggesting that an event starring Richard Spencer was to be held on September 11th at Texas A&M University, Aggie students and administration quickly took to social media to denounce the event in fear that it would be the sequel to the violence and unrest in Charlottesville.

But while some Aggies were promoting prayer rallies and maroon walls in a fervent effort to BTHO hate, others were engaged in a serious and timely discussion about... respect.

This discussion greatly reflected the age-old question "is respect earned or given?" A series of tweets by a fellow Aggie caught my attention and really got me thinking.

Making the case that even though students may not be supporters of the Alt-Right movement, we should still respect a person's first amendment right to freedom of speech and allow these speakers onto our campus. She argued that respect and support are not the same thing. In other words, you can be completely against racism, bigotry, white supremacy, and violence, and still welcome with respect a racist, white supremacist, bigot to your campus. Some Aggies argued that the presence of this kind of controversy on campus could be a catalyst to start conversation and explain to your peers why you believe that white supremacy is wrong.

I beg to differ.

The meaning of respect is to admire someone or something that is good, valuable and important, or to understand that someone or something is important or serious. I understand that the upholding of the First Amendment is both important and serious, good and valuable.

I respect freedom of speech. I respect your right to say what you want to say. This does not mean that I respect what is being said or even the person saying it. I disagree with the person that said that respect does not equal support.

Respect is the same thing as support when your respect gives hateful, divisive rhetoric a platform. I chose to attend Texas A&M University because it is an outstanding institution that prides itself on providing quality education that produces prosperous graduates. I did not choose to attend Texas A&M University so that my respect could invite white supremacists to my campus so that I might explain to them why I, a person of color, believe white supremacy is wrong.

I'm glad that my university is a place where people feel safe to exercise their rights.

However, I won't let that stop me from doing my best to keep hate off of my campus. When your freedom of speech brings violence, turmoil and discomfort, that is not something I plan to allow in the name of respect. Go spread your hate somewhere else.

So here I stand with good ol' Albert Einstein when he said, "If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity," and that's just not something I'm willing to do.