Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Protesters shamefully shut down speech

Shameful! The university that 45 years ago defied an unconstitutional infringement of free speech has now allowed the silencing of a former congressman who had dared to discuss his opposition to state and federal legislation granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. Former presidential candidate Tom Tancredo had been invited to speak in a small auditorium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but protesters first drowned him out and stretched a protest banner ("No one is illegal") in front of him and then broke out a window in the Bingham Hall auditorium. Campus police determined the violence and destruction of public property to warrant clearing the auditorium.
When the state legislature in 1963 passed the Speaker Ban Law, prohibiting any member of the Communist Party or anyone who had exercised his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination from speaking on university property, students and faculty rose up in protest against the restrictions on free speech. A communist speaker who had been barred from campus set up a microphone on the Franklin Street sidewalk and had his say before a respectful audience of students and faculty. After negative court rulings and the threat of loss of the university's accreditation, the legislature repealed the law.
A generation later, protesters shouted down Tancredo who, despite his extreme views about illegal immigration, was calm, polite and rational. His opinions were the same ones he had expressed in last year's Republican presidential debates, but at Chapel Hill he was shouted down, often profanely, by those accusing him of "hate speech." After campus police hustled the invited speaker out of the building, according to the News and Observer, about 200 protesters gathered outside and chanted, "We shut him down; no racists in our town" and "Yes, racists, we will fight, we know where you sleep at night."
If that chant doesn't scare you, it should. It's a clear threat to anyone who disagrees with the protesters. Accusing Tancredo of "hate speech" also should give you pause. At a time when the state legislature is considering criminalizing "bullying" by public school students and the state university system is pondering punishment for "hate speech," Tancredo's reception shows just how broadly "hate speech" can be defined. Any opinion with which you disagree can be called "hate speech." Tancredo did not express hatred of anyone, nor did he utter racially discriminatory opinions. His position has been that the United States should enforce its immigration laws and squelch any policies that undermine those laws. But the shouting, stomping, window-breaking protesters remind him, "we know where you sleep at night." I would take that as a threat of more violence, perhaps even murder.
The First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech does not categorize speech as "good" or "bad," as "loving" or "hateful." It guarantees free speech, the freedom to express opinions, even unpopular ones. Tuesday night's shouting-down of Tancredo is a shameful event anywhere, but especially on a university campus where, once, unpopular free speech was defended.

3 comments:

de Bivar said...

Your comparison to school bullying legislation isn't really germane. And your comment that "...any opinion with which you disagree can be called hate speech..." is ludicrous and does a great disservice to children who need protections, and a clear legal deterrent to bullying. Research bullying when you get a chance.

Tancredo was voted one of the 10 Worst Congressman in 2006; and it went downhill from there....

"The undisputed king of Republican bigotry -- is Tancredo, a dark-horse presidential contender for 2008. "He's got the best track record in Congress," raves Gordon Baum, head of the Council for Conservative Citizens, a "pro-white" group that lauds Tancredo for protecting America from a "full-scale invasion" of Latin immigrants.

"Elected to the House in 1998, Tancredo has not only led the fight to deport every undocumented worker in America -- a proposal that would cost at least $200 billion -- but has called for halting all immigration, legal and otherwise.

In one unforgettable move, Tancredo wanted to deport the family of an undocumented high school boy who was profiled in The Denver Post for his perfect grades.

The grandson of Italian immigrants, Tancredo traces his interest in politics to the eighth grade, when he played Fidel Castro in a class assignment. He urges America to reject "the siren song of multiculturalism" and depicts Islam as "a civilization bent on destroying ours." In September, when Pope Benedict XVI sparked riots by condemning Islam as "evil," Tancredo urged him not to apologize. Even the right has noted his unbridled looniness on the subject: In July, when Tancredo proposed that America respond to any future terrorist attack by bombing Mecca and other holy sites, the National Review came to an unavoidable conclusion: "Tom Tancredo is an idiot."

But don't worry. He thrives on what happened in CH. And he probably still got paid.

Erstwhile Editor said...

I stand by my contention that any opinion with which you disagree CAN be termed "hate speech." All that is required is a loud voice.
The purpose of my post was not to defend Tancredo. I do not agree with him, but I much more strongly disagree with the contention of the protesters that some opinions should never be allowed a hearing. Many people oppose illegal immigration. Many oppose providing lower-rate in-state tuition to people who are not legal residents of the state. There's no simple solution to this issue, but sensible compromise may be possible if public debate is allowed. And de Bivar is right: Tancredo will probably benefit from this incident, and that's regrettable. But what is more regrettable is that undergraduates, grad students and faculty at UNC have embarrassed a great university by shouting down a speaker with whom they disagreed. It was a disgraceful, undemocratic and illiberal display.

Anonymous said...

....


....Islam IS evil and is HELL bent on destroying the USA. Tancredo was correct in his thought process. Anyone not agreeing is blinded by the idiodic politically correctness syndrome that is a virus in our nation today.

Seems 'hate speech' has a one way avenue. Malcontents need adjustments.