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Tue 10 Dec, 2002 05:16 pm
Is cross burning a form of free speech?
High court hears arguments in two cases that test the limits of First Amendment.
By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – Few symbols carry such a clear and terrifying message as the sight of a burning cross on someone's front lawn. For most of the past century, the Ku Klux Klan, in particular, has used the flaming cross both as a symbol of white supremacy and as a terror tactic aimed primarily at African-Americans.
Aware of this legacy, lawmakers in Virginia made it illegal to burn a cross with the intent of intimidating someone.
But now the statute is being challenged by free-speech advocates, who say that a burning cross can be a form of communication protected by the First Amendment.
What is your opinion is burning a cross with all it's implications free speech or a threat and intimidation? Should it be ruled against by the USSC. Would anyone hazard care to a guess on how the court will rule and why?
au, do you have a url? Thanks!
Holmes said that freedom of speech does not protect someone's right to yell "fire!" in a crowded theater--i think that statement applies here.
you burn a cross in your yard and i will bring the hot dogs , you burn it in my yard and i load my rifle. btw i had a cross burned in my yard once.
We had several cross burnings in Fort Worth last year. First the cross was burned in the yard of an African American family and then the idiots came back and burned crosses in the yards of the white neighbors who helped clean up the mess. Right here in the buckle of the bible belt. yessir re bob, the same state where some yahoos dragged a man for a mile or so on a paved road.
Free speech I don't think so but then I am in the minority in Tejas.
Many thanks, au; will check it out tomorrow.
No way it's free speech. Even if the courts declared it legal it would still not be so.
The cross burning issue is an old case. It's previously been decided by the Supremes that cross burning my be a form of legal expression under the 1st amendment.
I might also add, that as a citizen of the US, you do have a right to be racist. It's HOW you express your racism which is the ciritcal variable.
If there is a prior decision why is the court looking at this issue again?
I wish to amend my statement to add that it really depends where you burn a cross before it should become illegal, same as flag burning. If you burn a cross on my lawn you deserve to be shot or at least jailed. If you do it at a rally, away from my home, I may deplore it, but I cannot stop it.
I'll chime in and 2nd dyslexia's comment.
Why is the Sup Ct looking at this again?
For the same reasons the Ct is looking at the U Of Michigan Law school again.
segue: in 1970 i was hired at a small city in the south by phone to run the news department of a local t.v. station. My wife had just completed her M.S. and also got a position teaching at the local Jr. College. She Had gone down there a month ahead to secure housing and i came down on my motorcycle (i also happened to have very long hair) i arrived in the city and had no idea where to go so i stopped a local police officer for directions. He informed me that i was not welcome in HIS town and had 24 hours to leave. The next morning at work i stated on the news that i had met the welcoming committee and was less than impressed. that night i awoke about midnight to find a cross burning in my front yard.
Hi, New Haven...
In America you may have the right to be racist, but I see a vast difference between a person being a racist and a person burning a cross in someone's yard to terrorize them.
Matrix500- Anybody has the right to believe what he wishes, whether we approve of it or not. If he is racist, that is one thing. But if he uses that recism to intimidate people, that is quite another!
dyslexia...
Reading about what happened to you made my stomach turn.
The KKK tried to hold a recruitment rally in a small neighboring city a couple of years ago, and when they showed up, there were so many protesters that they finally just gave up and left...It felt good to see that happen for a change.
Even though it's legal to be racist, I've just never understood the concept.
Hi, Phoenix...
I thought that's what I said. Anyway, I agree with you.
The one thing I do not miss about the Virginia and Maryland is that I don't see rebel flags everywhere. In Texas they prefer the Texas flag. I really hated seeing it all the time when I live in Metro D.C. I was so shocked when I moved there to see it and did not understand. Now I do and I hate it but they have the right. Just like it is legal to burn the US flag.
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