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County GOP Chairwoman Loses Job After Having Identity Evropa member Speak At An Event

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Zachery Schmidt Contributor
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A Washington state County Republican chairwoman resigned after having an alternative-right speaker at an event.

Cecily Wright, the chairwoman for the Spokane County Republican Party, resigned after a July 11 video surfaced showing her defending James Allsup, according to The Spokesman-Review. He is an Identify Evropa member which describes itself as a “fraternal organization for people of European heritage located in the United States that participates in community building and civic engagement.”

At the event, Wright described Allsup as a person who has been “label lynched.”

“People’s lives are destroyed with these labels that are hung on them because we don’t take time to really figure out is it true or is it not true,” Wright said. “What is the purpose behind labeling a person a certain way?”

On August 1, Wright resigned from her position in a Spokane County Republican Party Facebook post.

“I profoundly apologize for giving Mr. Allsup a platform to speak at the Northwest Grassroots meeting in July,” Wright said.  “I consider this a serious mistake in my judgment and I deeply regret that decision.”

Wright posted through Spokane County Republicans’ Facebook page on July 31 explaining how Allsup came to speak at the event.

“Mr. Allsup reached out to my husband, John Charleston, the head of NW Grassroots, to discuss what he feels is an untrue characterization of him as a white supremacist.”

Wright later added the “segment was called ‘label lynching,’ and I had been told Mr. Allsup was there to dispel the label he has been identified with as a racist and white supremacist – a chance to defend and explain himself.”

In the past, Allsup went to the white-supremacist Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last August where one person died. The former Washington State University College Republican chairman resigned after the rally. Since then, he has developed a big following with almost 300,000 YouTube subscribers.

Recently, he became precinct committee officer for the Whitman County, Washington Republican Party, according to the Daily Beast.

“We condemn this individual and his hateful, racist views in the strongest possible terms. There’s no place for it in the Republican Party,” A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee told The Daily Beast.

Tina Podlodowski, the chair of the Washington Democratic Party, issued a statement on August 1 condemning Wright.

“Not only did Cecily Wright defend James Allsup, she introduced him as the victim of ‘label lynching’ – a grotesquely uninformed phrase that trivializes the violence inflicted on people of color by actual lynchings through our country’s history.”

Allsup gave nearly a 10-minute speech at this grassroots event.

“When the left uses labels you know white nationalist or things like this, they are trying to tell their side of the story. The left controls the media unfortunately and so they’re going to present their narrative,” Allsup said. “So always think critically when you hear people being attacked and criticized in the media.”

The popular YouTuber has not issued a statement on the issue.