A national Muslim civil liberties group has called on the South Dakota Republican Party to break ties with a pair of speakers set to present Thursday night in Rapid City.
But hours ahead of the event, state party leaders said they supported the event and had no plans to drop their sponsorship.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Thursday said the Pennington County GOP, which has sponsored the event featuring John Guandolo and Chris Gaubatz, should instead reach out to the state’s Muslim community to foster understanding.
“Following yesterday’s terror attack on members of Congress and their staff in Virginia, it is more important than ever to repudiate the promotion of conspiracy theories and bigotry targeting any segment of our society,” Robert McCaw, government affairs director, said in a statement.
Guandolo, a former CIA agent and founder of training and consulting group Understanding the Threat, is set to discuss “the jihadi network in the U.S. and South Dakota.” A statement about his speaking engagement said Guandolo will also address “practical actions citizens can take to defend their communities and take back ground.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed Guandolo an “anti-Muslim extremist.” At prior speaking events he has said that the Muslim Brotherhood has extensive connections to U.S. mosques and those religious houses should thus be shut down by authorities.
A Pennington County GOP spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday, but South Dakota Republican Party Chair Dan Lederman said the state party supports the Pennington County chapter’s sponsorship of the event.
“Unlike the Democrats who demand that the members of their party fall into lockstep, the Republican Party is a big tent party that allows our members to have different views,” Lederman told Argus Leader Media. “Many of our members believe that if we are able to concur or combat Islamic radicalism, we must understand the threat and that is exactly what we have helped with in Rapid City.”
Progressive group Indivisible Rapid City has said it will hold a peaceful protest of the event Thursday night near the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.
“Ultimately what it comes down to is we want our community to know that this isn’t something we support, and we don’t want these seeds spreading here,” said Lori Miller, a spokeswoman for the group.
Other Rapid City religious and conservative groups have also sponsored the speakers. They plan to show their support outside the civic center to counter any protesters.