The ACLU used to be good for something. By which I mean it made some small effort to actually defend bits of the constitution. Like, free speech. But has this last vestige of function been excised by the #Wokeasaurus?
Related: ACLU is bringing a mob to the next Gilford School Board meeting – 10/7
Yesterday, we reported on some UConn students who were walking in a parking lot on campus yelling out offensive words. It was a game. Someone said ni-(double guh)-er, which is very offensive, so it fit the template.
Unknown to them ( I guess they don’t teach you about ho sound travels), students in a nearby dorm heard them and reported it. Remember, if you hear something, even across an empty quad, that is not in any way directed at you or anyone else, say something.
What was the result of this Obama-Era/1984-esque (Attack Watch, Truth Squads) intervention? Two of the three individuals were arrested and charged with crimes under Connecticut State Hate Speech law.
For all the reasons noted in my original remarks, any judicial journey challenging the arrest or charges has a very high probability of succeeding. The case will get tossed, and perhaps the law with it. Given that the ACLU is supposed to be all about the Constitution (or something) with all their lawyers (and junk) you’d think they’d be all in on this defense.
“The University of Connecticut administration’s response to racism on the Storrs campus is wholly inadequate and incomplete. UConn administrators and government actors are hiding behind two arrests instead of taking action to stop racism on campus.
Racism is real and it too is offensive, but if the ACLU intends to embrace the left’s abuse of it as a talking-point to silence speech then Houston we have a problem. Do we have a problem?
“Although the conduct reported in this incident is reprehensible, it is not criminal. The First Amendment protects even offensive and hateful speech, so long as it does not rise to the level of incitement to violence, criminal harassment, or true threats. Nothing in the press reports indicates that the students’ speech, while morally abhorrent, meets that demanding standard. The ACLU has long supported robust constitutional protections for speech, including speech we vehemently oppose.”
This suggests we do not, but a majority of the ACLU press release focusses on failures by CT and UConn to ensure racism is not infringing on their “constitutional responsibility to ensure students of color have equal access to education.”
This is a worthy goal but look at some of the framing and context (reformatted).
- creating a requisite First Year Experience course focused on ending racism on campus
- updating the Student Code of Conduct to create specific guidelines about racism and hate speech
- hiring at least 10 Black faculty and staff
- Policing is an inherently white-supremacist institution, and we remain skeptical of its ability to address racism and bigotry.
The system is against you. White people need sensitivity training. Cops will oppress you by default. The system is rigged.
This is the Social Justice Warrior chapter and verse. It is the Left’s politically motivated default setting in a world where many of the publicly reported hate crimes are turning out to be hoaxes.
Taken along with the backhanded way in which the CT ACLU mentioned Free Speech – as if it is (sadly) a barrier to needed improvements, I’d say we do have a problem.
The ACLU has found a way to abandon one of the few things for which it still served a purpose. And when that’s gone they will be nothing more than another well-funded left-wing activist group (in total) redirecting millions in taxpayer dollars to lawyers and the legal system to defend against claims of institutional racism that were created as a political tool to divide the nation so socialists could use that as an excuse to grow government and infringe on our rights.
