By the Content of their Character

I am the first person to stand up for someone’s first amendment rights to free speech, but there are times when a bit of common sense needs to hold sway. Free speech or not, some things stretch the boundaries of what’s acceptable, and some are just plain rude and uncalled for.

Believe me, ask anyone who knows me, I am among the top advocates for free speech. What I write and have written here in this column stands as a monument to that. Without the right to free speech, things like this column and the writings of many other people today would likely land them in jail.

It wasn’t so long ago that people adopted pen names in order to keep themselves from being persecuted for the satires they wrote protesting the way their government was acting. Back then, being a writer was serious business and depending on what you were writing, it could indeed bear serious consequences like jail and death. More than one writer met his fate over the things writ on paper, or papyrus, or a stone tablet for that matter.

But even so, and while I would advocate for a person’s right to express themselves, there are times when good conscience should reign supreme. For instance, it’s against the law to scream “fire” in a movie theater. I know at the time such laws were created there was more danger of a theater burning down than there are today, but it’s a common sense law. It’s no different than someone going into an airport today and yelling, “Bomb!” It’s not a joke, it’s not funny, and the perpetrator ought at least to see a bit of jail time to shock them out of doing it again.

So, when two St. Anthony’s High School seniors walked into an after-regular school hours sporting event draped in a Confederate flag what is one to assume? On a T-shirt or on a ball cap, and I have no problem. Free speech, right?

One time when I was teaching in Mecklenburg County, VA, one of my African-American students complained to me about another student who was wearing a baseball cap with a Confederate battle flag patch on the top front. He said that the flag bothered him and could I do something about it?

I asked him what he thought the flag meant. He said the typical comments about racism and such that one might expect to hear. So I said ‘you think it’s like an emblem of ignorance and being a red neck?’ To which he replied, “Yes.” So I said, “Well, would you rather have him going around letting you know what he thinks, or would you rather have no idea what he thinks even though he harbors those kinds of feelings?”

My student thought about it for a second and then said, “I guess you’re right, Mr. B.”

But to be draped in the Confederate flag, as reported by Newsday reporter Bart Jones in a recent article, is another thing altogether. And, just for the record, I’m assuming this to be the Confederate Battle Flag, the Stars and Bars as it were. While it’s one thing to promote one’s heritage, it’s quite another to provoke people with an object that has indeed become a symbol of racism and hatred.

White supremacist groups, skin heads, and the KKK have all taken the old battle flag as a symbol to support their organizations. It doesn’t stand for state’s rights and southern heritage anymore. Some of these same groups also advocate the Swastika, the flag of Nazi Germany. Is there a more striking symbol of hate than the flag that supported the advocates of the Holocaust and the murder of countless Jews and Poles and enemies of the state? How can wearing the Confederate flag like that be anything but hate mongering? I don’t know.

So in my mind, the actions taken by St. Anthony’s principal Brother Cregan are both appropriate and fair. Note that he did not immediately suspend the two seniors for the year. Initially they were suspended for a week, but during the intervening time, the good Brother re-evaluated the punishment and opted for one even harsher.

“I find it just very hard to even imagine why any student in 2014 would even consider or thing that a Confederate flag would be anything other than a symbol of hate,” Cregan said.

For its part, the New York Civil Liberties Union, an advocate for free speech, said students should be able to openly express their views, even those considered offensive.

“Our motto is more speech, not censorship or punishment,” NYCLU director Donna Lieberman said. “Helping children understand the impact of this patently offensive expressive activity.”

There are some things that really need to change within our society. Hate mongering and racism are two of the biggest. Truth be known, we will never rid ourselves of those two things. They exist on both sides of the fence. It’s up to those of us who can see the problem to try to turn the tide. It’s time to judge people by the content of their character.