By Nicole Marie Edine
Much has been said in defense of the constitutional right to free speech this past week and a half. Free speech defends the controversial ‘Innocence of Muslims’ YouTube movie that sparked the violence against U.S. Embassies in Egypt and Libya resulting in the death of four. Free speech also defends the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to picket military funerals and for millions to eat chicken sandwiches to protest marriage equality. Each of these controversies have rallied the cry of free speech. Yes, you are free to each chicken sandwiches collectively and say whatever you’d like at another’s funeral, but just because you can, does it mean you should? Yes, this is free speech, but this is also hate speech. Hate speech has unforeseen consequences. Hate
speech hurts others at the core of their being: by rallying against who they are as people.
Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the New York City subway system will soon be host to this vein of free speech. Pamela Geller and her American Freedom Defense Initiative , whom you may remember from the protests against Park51 (the infamous “Ground Zero Mosque”, have purchased ad space from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to advertise against Islam. The AFDI’s ads would posit Islam as “savage” and Muslims as a “jihadist” threat. The ads claim that, “It’s not Islamophobia, it’s Islamorealism.” While the city attempted to battle these hateful advertisements, Ms. Geller’s right to post them was defended on the grounds of free speech.
In recent correspondence, the New York Times article quotes Ms. Geller as saying, “Freedom must be vigorously defended.” For once Ms. Geller and I agree on something. I also am interested in defending freedom. The freedom for people to practice their religion in peace, to live without fear of being persecuted based on lies and hatefully drawn conclusions, and yes, even for you to say what you will. My desire for these ads never to be posted is not because I think that AFDI doesn’t deserve free speech but because I understand that baseless hate speech is not productive. It does not help us towards the goals of living in this world together. If Ms. Geller would like some “Islamorealism”, my recommendation is that she takes the time to meet with the thousands of New York Muslims who will see these ads everyday, whose children will get relentlessly bullied and whose lives have also been forever changed by 9/11.
Perhaps dialogue will not stop the baseless hate speech. There will always be another Pamela Geller, Fred Phelps, or Jim Cathay, but we don’t have to be like them. We are never going to get anywhere by standing on the sidelines screaming at each other and waving our chicken sandwiches around. It’s time we start talking to each other instead. Lately, it’s been easy to forget that free speech can also move us forward.
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