Protesters to rally against far-right convention in downtown Detroit this weekend

Protesters are planning to converge on Huntington Place in downtown Detroit this weekend to rally against a three-day convention featuring white Christian nationalists, Donald Trump, and other far-right figures who promote conspiracy theories and racist ideologies.

Turning Point Action (TPA) , an arm of the far-right organization TPUSA and brainchild of right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk, is hosting the People’s Convention from Friday to Sunday at Huntington Place, which is partially funded by tax dollars and used to be called Cobo Center.

Trump is the headline speaker at the event, which also will include Kirk, MAGA zealot Steve Bannon, political operative Roger Stone, alt-right activist Jack Posobiec, election denier and pillow salesman Mike Lindell, and U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Turning Point USA has been connected to racist groups and is labeled an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League .

A then-18-year-old Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2009 “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government,” according to the group’s website . The group campaigns on college campuses with the goal of inspiring a new generation of aggrieved white conservatives.

Turning Point is known for spreading conspiracy theories around elections and COVID-19 , as well as attracting racists, homophobes, and other bigots and promoting the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that devolved into a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Kirk called George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by a Minneapolis cop in 2020, a “scumbag.”

Local activists say they won’t tolerate an event that promotes hatred, especially in a predominantly Black city.

“I think it’s our obligation to protest,” Bill Cheek, a 60-year-old Detroiter, tells Metro Times . “It’s a pure provocation to come to Detroit, a majority Black city. It’s a shameful disgrace.”

Protest groups say they haven’t set a time and date for the rally yet and don’t want to tip off attendees or the police, who have resorted to violence to disperse anti-hate activists in the past. Protest leaders are also hesitant to disclose their names because police have targeted them in the past.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, says Detroiters won’t be deceived by the speakers’ conspiracy theories and racist ideologies.

“Turning Point USA can use their white supremacist money to rent a conference center in our city, but Detroiters won’t be fooled,” Tlaib tells Metro Times . “The very people speaking at that conference this weekend are those who want to harm and take away the rights of my neighbors and I here in Detroit.”

Tlaib says Trump has caused harm to Detroit, and residents won’t stand for his antics.

“The twice-impeached, now convicted former President Donald Trump promoted lies about COVID while many of my neighbors died due to his butchered response to a global pandemic,” Tlaib says. “Donald Trump gutted the EPA and policies we need to keep our air and water clean. And now Donald Trump and his cronies want to roll back the Civil Rights Act and strip our public schools of funding. We won’t forget and we won’t allow it.”

Opponents of the event are questioning why Huntington Place would book an event that will attract racists and other bigots.

“I understand that Huntington Place has to make money from conventions, but is this the way to do it?” Cheek asks. “What’s next? The Klan. They have to have better sense than this. It’s unconscionable that Huntington Place would not question the source of this convention and not consider the people of Detroit, who are already traumatized.”

In a statement, Huntington Place defended the booking.

“As a public facility, Huntington Place has a responsibility to provide equal access to all regardless of race, religion or politics,” a spokesperson tells Metro Times .

The convention center, which was owned by Detroit until it was pressured to relinquish control in 2009, is financed by liquor and hotel taxes and revenue generated from events.

The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority gained control of operations and is governed by a board of directors appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and the county executives of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.

Metro Times is awaiting a response from Duggan's administration, since the convention is in Detroit.

It’s not the first time the convention center has hosted events like this. In March 2019, hundreds of right-wing supporters turned out to a pro-Trump rally dubbed, “We Build the Wall Town Hall,” where Bannon and cowboy hat-wearing firebrand David Clarke urged attendees to donate to an effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border on private land.

The conference center was also the site of a pro-Trump rally in which demonstrators falsely claimed the election was stolen in November 2020.