The laws protecting Freedom of Speech in the U.S. do not mean you can say anything you want.
There are limits: incitement, defamation, fraud, obscenity, child pornography, fighting words, and threats. None of those things are protected under Freedom of Speech for a good reason: to protect us. Young Americans for Freedom’s (YAF) speaker called for explicit violence against his political opposition and promoted defamatory and racist remarks throughout his panel. This rhetoric is not free speech; it’s hate speech, and it needs to end now.
To begin, I would like to shed light on YAF’s history. I’m sure everyone has heard of the infamous panel YAF hosted last year. Paula Scanlan, YAF’s first speaker at Franklin and Marshall College, made false and transphobic claims about transgender individuals, referring to a transgender female swimmer as a male all because the speaker lost to her in a race, and then went on to further spew transphobic nonsense. It only got worse from there. This panel was held during an insensitive time when an especially high number of transgender individuals were being harassed and killed.
Furthermore, an LGBTQ+ student informed me that some students who tried to attend the panel felt that they were denied entry if they looked visibly queer or sported pride merch. YAF rejected attempts at peaceful discourse, which further propagated hate against trans individuals on and off campus. This year’s panel was just as horrific.
Vince Everett Ellison, a far-right-wing author, political commentator, and South Carolina GOP nominee, behaved nothing short of abhorrently on September 24. He claimed that white privilege is a myth invented behind the scenes by rich black liberals to coerce voters en masse to vote blue during election time. Where are these so-called rich black liberals that fill our government? According to Government data, in America’s 118th Congress only a mere 59 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives identify as black, as well as 4 out of 100 members of the Senate. This so-called claim of a takeover is unfounded and rooted in racism, conspiracy theories, and fear-mongering
In addition, Ellison spoke about how slavery was a choice and detailed several gory stories about how he would punish his enemies as well as other colorful threats about what he would do to liberals. He said that since people had escaped slavery before, citing the Underground Railroad system, it was entirely possible to escape slavery and that it was black peoples’ own fault for being enslaved because they didn’t try hard enough to free themselves. As for the gore? He claimed that peaceful dialogue is not enough to get things to go your way, and said to people who disagreed with him that he would “shoot them with his 38.” He further explored the concept of murdering his dissent, spewing a shocking narrative of what he would do to them when given the opportunity: he would castrate them; he would hang them; and, after that, once he was done hanging them he would cut them down and rip out their entrails until they’re dead; and once those people were dead, he would cut off their heads and roll them around the streets so that people know not to mess with him.”
Even beyond this narrative, Ellison’s behavior during the Q&A session was abhorrent. I had the misfortune of having a personal “conversation” with the speaker. I had come to him as a fellow American, politely stating white privilege was not what he thought it was, and that our government is not in fact filled with rich black liberals, but white, Christian men. Before I could finish my argument, Ellison cut me off. He asked me if I, a white person, have any privilege over him. When I responded with a simple “Yes” and no further elaboration, he called me crazy and started screaming about how I didn’t know him or his grandparents and that I didn’t know what I was talking about. I tried to explain that laws prevented black people from amassing personal wealth long after the ending of slavery, citing the fact that prior to the 1960s, discrimination and discriminatory laws prevented black people from owning their own homes. They could not even open bank accounts, a fact the speaker even pointed out himself during his speech. But Ellison’s response was simply to cut me off, his voice rising highter. By then, my time was up and I walked out. From outside the doors I could hear Ellison screaming until the end of the panel. Later, I learned that during that time Ellison went on to disrespect others. He told someone to shut up, cut people off, name-called, and even yelled at both students and staff alike. Thus, this event was not a panel intended to invite discourse.
A statement directly from Franklin and Marshall College’s Black Student Union (BSU) sums up the plight of the student body in response to the event: “The BSU doesn’t stand against YAF but rather against the narrative their speaker put out. As we can see in the interview video [posted on @fandmbsu on Instagram], racial groups from both sides of the coin agree that white privilege is real, and it’s not due to simply being told that it’s real but rather it’s due to those individuals experiencing it or witnessing it.” BSU’s videos show people of varying ethnicities, including white, acknowledging and explaining white privilege. It is a video worth checking out for anyone still confused about the subject. But for anyone who still hasn’t been informed, I will explain white privilege from the perspective of a white person below.
Acknowledging that white privilege exists is not an attack on white people or a “collective punishment” or rhetoric that keeps minorities down. White people are not at fault for what their ancestors did. People who believe white privilege exists do not think that black people are “lesser” than white people or need “handouts” in that sense of the word. Claims otherwise are not true. Calling out white privilege is a way to bring our ancestors’ wrongs to light so we can learn from their mistakes and continually strive to lessen the effects of racially-stemmed injustices on people today, as well as let those mistakes be known so we don’t continue to make them in the future. Misconstruing the meaning behind white privilege as well as ignoring the words of human rights activists and minorities is akin to a slap in the face to those who continually suffer under the current unjust social environment and system. Further claiming that white privilege is a myth denies the injustices that people suffer every day as a result of racism. Racism still exists. We see it in the death of Marcellus Williams, a black man who was recently executed in the state of Missouri despite not being proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Americans of varying backgrounds and ethnicities see it daily when they walk down the street and are shouted at to go back to their country unprovoked. Denying white privilege means denying their stories. It is hate speech.
And hate speech has no place at Franklin and Marshall College
To that end, proper discourse is necessary in order to educate others on the opposite opinion and promote peaceful conflict resolution. Anyone is welcome to believe whatever they want, but refusal to converse with and hear alternative viewpoints makes you nothing but ignorant. This is a college campus, not a lawless playground.
The United States’ founding fathers, the same ones who codified into law our Freedom of Speech, penned in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal. In other words, everyone has the right to be treated with respect despite their race, sexuality, or political views. This is a right that the rhetoric of YAF’s panelists denied. In response to this, I will reiterate one last time:
Hate Speech has no place on this campus.
*Note: For more information, see and sign my petition calling for the administration to audit YAF’s speakers better in the future and ask YAF to write the student body a formal apology for Elliason’s behavior.
Freshman Marissa Lee is a contributing writer. Her email is mlee4@fandm.edu.