When a couple of right-wing speakers were chased off the stage at the University of California, Davis, they still had a forum in which to make their case: Facebook, the latest and most technologically advanced way to defend their freedom of speech. Hear, hear.
There's still no better response to censorship than the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States no matter who's doing the censoring, a government or a mob. The principle remains the same: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," the First Amendment declares, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Any questions? Then flip open, or nowadays just google, the Bill of Rights, and then exercise them. You'll have plenty of company, for Americans are still ready to put their money where their opinions are in this age of crowdfunding. Just ask Billy Hawkins, president of historically black Talladega College in Alabama, who has reason to know that Americans still love freedom. He came in for a wave of criticism when he agreed to have his school's marching band perform in Donald Trump's inaugural parade. But the criticism was more than offset when the band raised more than $360,000 in GoFundMe contributions. Money still talks. Sometimes it yells.
Editorial on 01/17/2017