Member-only story
CULTURE
Why The Free Speech Movement in America Has a Race Problem
When selectively applied, this principle loses its vibrancy.
When only some groups have free speech, the principle is gravely undermined. Like paint bottles with too much-added water, the vibrancy is lost. A society that only strives to elevate the voices of the privileged and powerful while silencing the most marginalized has only created the façade of liberty. And yet, throughout America’s history, someone’s race has often determined whether their voice would be amplified or silenced. While free speech is typically described as a right all citizens enjoy, the modern free speech movement is tinged with racism. To understand why, we must start at the beginning.
Students learn in history class that Congress ratified the First Amendment in 1791. And yet, schools do not usually provide the racialized context — that during this period, most Black people in the country were enslaved by White people. Thus, they were deprived of a platform to speak freely about their conditions. “Free speech for me but not for thee” seemed to encompass the sentiment of slave-owning legislators. They didn’t have to explicitly write in the Constitution that these rights were only reserved for White people because their actions spoke louder than words. In 1836, the…