[Vision2020] "Don't bury free speech in Friendship Square" [was Re: If You Look Young, Don't Buy Spray Paint ; -)]

[Saundra Lund]

Visionaries:

I'm wondering if Bill London's Town Crier column may be what got Dale
Courtney's shorts in a twist?  If so, here's Bill's 9/14/2005 Town Crier
column from the Moscow-Pullman Daily News in its entirety:

"Don't bury free speech in Friendship Square

Town Crier, by Bill London
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - Page Updated at 12:00:00 AM

On Aug. 17, officials at New Saint Andrews College discovered the words
Hitler Youth written in chalk on the sidewalk in front of their building in
downtown Moscow. NSA officials quickly launched a frenzy of accusation,
claiming the college had been vandalized.  Wrong and ridiculous.

First, the Hitler Youth message was not vandalism. There was no damage to
property. The words were written in chalk. Furthermore, the words were not
even on NSA property. The message was left on the public sidewalk, actually
part of Friendship Square.

Second, the person who wrote Hitler Youth on that sidewalk was exercising
his/her First Amendment right to free speech. The words Hitler Youth may be
mean-spirited, in poor taste, or inappropriate to NSA, but those words have
a political meaning and the person who wrote those words had a
constitutional right to write them, in chalk, on the public sidewalk.

The U.S. Supreme Court says that nobody can criminalize speech unless it
threatens imminent harm, agreed Elizabeth Brandt, University of Idaho law
professor and American Civil Liberties Union representative. Burning a cross
on someones lawn does threaten imminent harm. Words of a broad political
meaning, especially written in chalk on public property, do not.

Third, NSA officials also claimed that the states malicious harassment laws
were violated by those words. Nope. Idahos malicious harassment law makes it
illegal to try to intimidate or harass anyone on the basis of race,
religion, ancestry, etc. Physical harm to the person, property damage, or a
specific threat are required for this statute to apply. Also, there must be
a reasonable cause to believe that the threat will occur. As David Duke,
assistant police chief in Moscow, explains: the Hitler Youth message is none
of those and thus is not malicious harassment. The message is legitimate and
legal speech.

No laws were broken by the person who wrote Hitler Youth on that sidewalk,
Duke said.

Despite the relevant laws, Christ Church and New Saint Andrews officials
chose to respond to the Hitler Youth message with a public-relations blast
calling those chalked words vandalism. This response is really just another
political move by this group of spin-meisters. They rushed to the offense,
raising the spectre of vandalism where none occurred, with the goal of
limiting dissent and quieting the response to the impact of NSA downtown.

The men who control Christ Church and New Saint Andrews just dont understand
that Moscow is not a theocracy and that they have not been anointed as the
theocrats in charge of everyones thoughts and actions. Moscow citizens still
have, and can exercise, their rights of free speech. Those rights are
especially important at Friendship Square, the heart of the community.

Its no accident, after all, that Doug Wilson selected downtown Moscow as the
home for the (as they are described on the Church Web site) ministries of
Christ Church. These ministries, which include Canon Press, New Saint
Andrews College, and the church offices, all are located in downtown Moscow.
As Wilson has made it clear in sermons and writings for years, his goal is
to take Moscow, to refashion this community to his own beliefs, to dominate
the downtown with NSA and his other church ministries.

Wilson needs to be reminded that his political plan for taking Moscow is
generating a political response that has every right to be heard. The U.S.
Constitution guarantees it. 

We need to make sure our freedom of speech is not buried in Friendship
Square beneath Wilson rhetoric.

Perhaps the best statement of Doug Wilsons plan to dominate downtown Moscow
comes from his brother, Evan Wilson, in the documentary film, My Town. 

The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the 1912 Center. No admission
will be charged for this showing, but the sponsors (the Auntie Establishment
and Brother Carl Radio Show) request donations of canned foods for local
food banks.

Please note that I do not support or condone vandalism or malicious
harassment. Both are politically suicidal, ignorant and wrong. However,
equally wrong are efforts to quash legitimate speech.

* Bill London of Moscow is a freelance writer, active in progressive causes,
and works part-time as an information officer for WSUs College of Education.
Town Crier is a weekly series of columns contributed by 13 local writers.
The Town Crier columns run on Wednesday."