From the Other Side
From the Other Side
CHICAGO >> Most organizations would jump at the chance to host a debate with a Supreme Court justice. Think of the attention it would draw and the number of people they could persuade to see what they're about. Can free speakers
count on the ACLU?The Hawaii chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, did draw national attention -- of the worst sort-- by planning and then deciding against sending an invitation to Justice Clarence Thomas to debate the ACLU national president, Nadine Strossen.
The African-American segment of the local ACLU, comprising Daphne Barbee-Wooten, Faye Kennedy and Eric Ferrer, hijacked the organization by comparing Justice Thomas to an "Uncle Tom," the equivalent of a "serial killer," "Hitler," and "Satan." This came from members of an organization that has provided forums for Hitler sympathizers and Satanic worshippers.
The ACLU chapter now conducts its own witch-hunts instead of fighting them. Its directors dishonor their offices with their political agendas, demand investigations of other members, coerce others to vote against their consciences, engage in derogatory and profane name-calling, and betray the public trust.
I take what the ACLU is doing personally because I have a stake in ACLU affairs. In 1991, I was fired from the University of Hawaii's student newspaper and threatened with expulsion by the dean of students for expressing what was deemed as "controversial, unpopular, inciteful speech."
A flier I posted on campus satirized a vocal left-wing opponent. Responding to his public attacks calling me a "racist" and a "sexist," I joked that "if the students on this campus all united and tarred and feathered his anatomically pathetic body, he would think twice about telling people of color what to say!" (I am Jewish and part Native American.) I ended it with one of his lines: "No peace for racists!"
The ACLU represented me in a court case and the judge ruled in our favor. I was back at my old job on the newspaper, and the dean retracted his allegations. I was able to finish school and have since supported the ACLU.
If this happened today, I doubt the ACLU would consider defending me. I base this on statements made against me in the 1990s by a current ACLU board member who protested my work at the newspaper and demanded that the newspaper fire me for expressing opinions she deemed to be "racist."
The ACLU once supported me against the tyranny of political correctness. Now it has become the tyrant, squashing its principles and replacing them with contempt for the public despite their expressed ideas about civil rights.
I know Nadine Strossen to be an excellent debater with an outstanding presence and convictions to match. The ACLU was founded to champion the freedom to express unpopular ideas. Now it is up to us to save the ACLU from those who seek to destroy the organization from within.
The public should demand that the ACLU extend its invitation to Justice Thomas for this much-needed debate.
Grant Crowell is the CEO of Grantastic Designs,
a Web design and search engine firm in Chicago.