Horowitz said he turned away from left-wing politics after some members of the organization were implicated in violent crime.

“I realized these [leftist] ideas lead to murder,” he said. “I never threw a rock in the 1960s, but got involved with murderers because they said the right words about socialism and people’s rights.”

Though no longer a radical leftist, Horowitz denied he is a racist.

“I am still a civil rights activist,” he said. “We should all be Americans first, not judged by race, status, gender or sexual orientation.”

Horowitz said that while there will always be individuals who are racist, anyone who espouses racism in a public forum will never succeed—and that’s “as good as it’s going to get.”

As “the ethos of this country is anti-racist,” Horowitz said reparations for slavery are unnecessary and would in effect be “telling blacks to hate their own country” and to segregate themselves.

Brandon A. Gayle ’03, president of the Black Students Association, criticized the Harvard Republican Club (HRC) for sponsoring the speech, arguing that the HRC should have known that Horowitz would depart from the topic of leftism and national security to make comments on race.

“I’m not too happy with the HRC right now,” Gayle said. “Any time you bring a speaker, you are responsible for what comes out of his mouth.”

HRC President Brian C. Grech ’03 said the club did ask Horowitz to focus on national security issues. He said while he hoped that the speech would not “isolate other groups on campus,” that was not his main concern.

Grech said the club wanted to give Horowitz a forum on campus and “let the students decide for themselves” whether or not they agree with him.

“We know he’s a controversial guy, but we don’t think his ideas are at all racist,” Grech said.