“I prefer to die than to
live like a rat,” said Charlie Hebdo’s top editor Stéphane
Charbonnier, in regard to life without free speech.
In America,
free speech is a defining feature of our political conscience.
A poll of high school
students and teachers by the John S and James L Knight Foundation found that while
24 percent of students thought the first amendment was overreaching, “65 percent
of the students who see digital news on a daily basis agreed strongly that
people should be able to express unpopular opinions,” according to an article
on The
Guardian.
Yet
the free speech of American high school students is constantly up for debate. When
will we find the line that separates freedom of expression from communication
with intent to incite violence?
This
question was raised once again on May 5th, 2010 when a group of high
school students wore t-shirts displaying the American flag to school on Cinco
de Mayo.
The
principal required the students to either turn their shirt inside out or go
home. The students proceeded to go home, and their parents filed a lawsuit
against the school for violating the right to free speech.
After
San Francisco Federal judges ruled in favor of the school principal, the case
was appealed to the Supreme Court, according to The Los Angeles Times.
So far the Supreme Court
has ruled that students have the right to wear black armbands in protest of a
war (Tinker v. Des Moines) and that students, in order to communicate a
political message, may use particular offensive words (Cohen v. California).
However, if the any of
the above actions could cause harm to others, the right is taken away (Schneck
v. United States).
Yesterday,
the Supreme Court refused to take the case. By their refusal the court is
supporting, by omission, the San Francisco court’s decision that the principal had
legal justification to restrict the student’s free speech right because “The
Live Oaks High School south of San Jose had seen at least 30 fights between
white and Mexican American students,” according to The
Los Angeles Times.
This
is just one scenario among many; sometimes the courts make the right decision,
and sometimes they don’t.
It’s
up to us to make our voices heard in support or in protest. Join the
conversation at The Los Angeles Times or sign-up for the ACLU newsletter to get
involved.
