The following blog post was written by Ali Parker, a conservative activist at Pepperdine University

“If you tremble indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine.” - Che Guevara

Many who have seen this message admire Che Guevara for his retaliation against the rich and endeavor for social justice. Others proudly wear a t-shirt bearing his image, naively ignoring the truth of his horrendous actions. Che has been embraced by the youth of the leftist movement as a hero for the poor and an example of their socialist ideas. However, Che’s venture to seek justice quickly turned into a heartbreaking story of a do-gooder who was ignorant to the reality of the world except through his own perspective. His original plan to help the peasants from their terrible living conditions and from the wrath of corrupt landowners turned into a murder spree. Today, unfortunately, most students either ignore this part of the story or are never truly informed about his actions.

This year at Pepperdine, on Thursday night, College Republicans lined up ten No More Che Day signs in the main plaza by our cafeteria and four inside of the cafeteria, hoping that more attention would be drawn to them being hung up in groups. By the end of the weekend, only one of the signs remained hanging. There are many students on campus that will walk around wearing the Che t-shirts, completely oblivious to the crimes he committed against society and thousands of innocent people. I personally had an interesting conversation with a friend on campus. I was telling him about how it was No More Che Day and how we were trying to bring awareness to the atrocities he had committed. My friend responded by saying, “But isn’t Che that guy everyone loves? What did he do? Why don’t you like him?” I then went on to explain to him about the thousands of innocent people that he murdered in what he called the name of justice. He believed in socialism and that everyone could work for “morality,” yet he carried a morality subjective to his own thoughts and personal development. Che Guevara claimed to be a speaker for the poor, proponent of justice for those oppressed by rich landowners, and sought to revolutionize South America into one state in which everyone worked for equality and morality. But Che failed at his core value. Not only was he one of the most unjust revolutionaries, murdering people at the thought of them deserting or disagreeing with his philosophy, but he carried out a ruthless regime that did not benefit the poor but drew more attention to his self-seeking desires.

While there are still many students who hold Che in high regard, No More Che Day has still made an impact. Being able to change one person’s view on this day is a step in the right direction towards making the truth known about the man behind the face.

This blog post was written by Ali Parker, a conservative activist at Pepperdine University