speech and respect - College of Social Sciences and International ...

The Poverty of Civil Libertarianism
challenged the hate speech code adopted in 1989 as part of a Design
for Diversity and in response to several racist incidents, including a
fraternity "slave auction." A federal court also invalidated this,
declaring: "The problems of bigotry and discrimination sought to be
addressed here are real and truly corrosive of the educational
environment. But freedom of speech is almost absolute in our
land." 4 After restricting the rule to face-to-face confrontations, the
university repealed it following the Supreme Court's decision in the
St. Paul case. 5
Black popular music combines legitimate anger at racial oppression
with misogyny, homophobia, and anti-Semitism. 2 Live Crew
gained notoriety for its album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be," which
contains a track called "The Buck." [See Appendix. Readers are
warned they may find the lyrics extremely offensive.] 2 Live Crew
were acquitted of obscenity in a trial at which Harvard English
Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., himself African American, called
the group brilliant artists who exploded racist stereotypes about
black sexuality by presenting them in a comically extreme form. 6 An
English court dismissed an obscenity charge against the LA rap group
Niggaz With Attitude for its record "Efil4zaggin," which described
oral sex and violence. Band member Eazy-E declared: "We are
underground reporters." Geoffrey Robertson QC agreed: "It is often
very bitterly sarcastic and rude and will appear to our ears rude and
crude, but there it is, all part of the experience. It tells it like it is." 7
The rap group Public Enemy appeared at its 1987 launch surrounded
by bodyguards armed with fake Uzis. Its members praised
Louis Farrakhan, the openly anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of
Islam. Their song "Fight the Power" became the theme of Spike
Lee's enormously successful movie "Do the Right Thing." In May
1989 "Minister of Information" Proffessor {sic) Griff (Richard Griffin)
told an interviewer from the right-wing Washington Times that Jews
were the cause of "the majority of the wickedness" in the world. The
group fired him but soon thereafter issued "Welcome to the Terrordome,"
whose lyrics included: "Told a rab get off the rag," "Cruxifixion
ain't no fiction/So-called chosen frozen/Apology made to who
ever pleases/Still they got me like Jesus." That album, "Fear of Black
Planet," which sold a million copies in its first week, also contained
"Meet the G That Killed Me," with the homophobic lyrics: "Man to
man/l don't know if they can/From what I know/The parts don't fit." 8
The feminist argument that pornography reproduces the subordination
of women receives striking support from the actresses who
make it. Indian movie stars charge fees proportioned to how much
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