Premium Essay

Charles Lawrence On Racist Speech

Submitted By
Words 1020
Pages 5
In the essay On Racist Speech by Charles R. Lawrence III, he writes about the fact that racial insults have become an issue in what is supposedly a free country. Lawrence states that universities must create policies or codes in order to ensure the protection of all students from any remarks that can be considered racial harassment. However, he points out that the opposing side claims that if such policies were to be created, they would be impeaching on every American’s constitutional rights as stated in the first amendment. Lawrence states that this argument has “placed the bigot on the moral high ground and fanned the rising flames of racism” (65). I agree with Lawrence’s point of view in the respect that any sort of racial insults should not be protected under the first amendment and those who claim otherwise are only doing a disservice to everything the constitution stands for. In order to ensure the equality of every individual, universities should place policies that prohibit the use of racial insults. In the beginning of the essay Lawrence claims that protecting individuals against racist speech is one of the most important ways to “reinforce society’s commitment to (racial) tolerance as a value” (65). While I do believe …show more content…
Board of Education case, the entire principle of equal citizenship is being questioned (65). It is a matter of segregation; the belief that those of different color are inferior to those of a lighter skin color and are treated as lesser beings. For example, students who are subject to this unfair treatment are not given an equal educational opportunity because they must worry about whether or not someone will make an insulting comment about their race. Moreover, students suffering from racial harassment must deal with the stress of college in addition to fear of bullying. This ancient notion that race seems defines the quality of one’s life must be obliterated through the creation of policies against racist

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Charles Lawrence On Racist Speech Summary

...right to free speech is one of those rights that is being targeted in some areas, including right here in some of our public and private universities, as a way to combat racism. Some people believe that universities should have the ability to regulate student’s free speech rights on certain types of dialog; racist speech. This is a very controversial topic that probably will never be agreed upon by the masses and will only cause more of a division between the people. However, racism is such an important topic, that maybe society should look at less typical methods to eliminate it, and maybe giving public and private universities the ability to limit their student’s free speech rights, could work? In the article “On Racist Speech” by Charles...

Words: 991 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Is There a Right Way of Interpretation of the First Amendment?

...interpretation of the text can take on many forms and there is no the right one, words do have a limited range of meaning, and no interpretation that goes beyond that range should be permissible, especially when we are dealing with such an important document as the First Amendment. The article “On Racist Speech” by Charles R Lawrence serves as a great example of argumentative interpretation of the First Amendment. Charles Lawrence examines the power of words that can insult, assault and even exclude. He challenges the thought that all speech should be protected and urges his readers to examine their own beliefs and expectations of what their civil rights are. The author also presents a strong critique of the First Amendment that protect us from defamation, invasion of privacy while at the same time leaves the door wide open for racist and sexist verbal assaults. Lawrence uses a close textual interpretation of the First Amendment –consequently he believes that there should not be a huge departure from text. Free speech ostensibly would appear to give people the power to basically say what they want and not have to pay the price for it. However, the author argues that racist speech constitutes...

Words: 1270 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Capstone

...Words Have you ever witnessed or been a victim of hate speech because of their or your race, religion or even your sexuality before? In today’s society, it’s been known that all American citizens have the right to speak due to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment being any law respecting all that someone has to say also known as freedom of speech. ”To engage in a debate about the First Amendment and racist speech without a full understanding of the nature and extent of that harm is to risk making the First Amendment an instrument of domination rather than a vehicle of liberation” (Lawrence Pg. 345). Hate speech is usually misunderstood because people make careless statements about one another and doesn’t notice or take the time to acknowledge that their form of freedom of speech inflicted damage to the victim. Then again, every person has their own definition of hate speech. Often people say that any negative speech towards a group is considered a form of hate speech; however, church religious groups are against the whole “gay marriage” and just homosexuality in general but they’re still allowed to speak out and protest against America. People are believed that the use of hate speech is to be a violation to the First Amendment but other people think otherwise and is believed that they have the right to say and express whatever they have to say and it’s protected; furthermore, hate speech also causes fear to a person which results in physical...

Words: 1139 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Free Expression on College Campuses

...expression that can intimidate the free flow of ideas. College campuses are filled with diversity. Rather, students from all over the world, whether citizens or guests, should feel welcome to share cultural, political, and traditional values openly. Unfortunately, some people take our freedoms to extremes on both sides of the issue and without limitations to free speech it could be abused. The essence of why free speech should be limited or censored on college campuses is best captured in Lawrence’s own writing On Racist Speech. “Assaultive rasict speech functions as a preemptive strike. The invective is experienced as a blow, not as a proffered idea, and once the blow is struck, it is unlikely that a dialogue will follow. Racial insults are particularly undeserving of First Amendment protection because the perpetrator’s intention is not to discover truth or initiate dialogue but to injure the victim.”(page56 paragraph 6.) The law of the land states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances,” (United States Constitution. First Amendment.) Prior to ratifying the U.S. Constitution our founding fathers declared our freedom from Great Britain, “And for the support of the Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of...

Words: 683 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Moive and Culture

...This document is attributed to Jack Lule and Flat World Knowledge 8.2 Movies and Culture LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. 2. Recognize how movies reflect cultural attitudes, trends, and events. Indicate how movies influence culture. Movies Mirror Culture The relationship between movies and culture involves a complicated dynamic; while American movies certainly influence the mass culture that consumes them, they are also an integral part of that culture, a product of it, and therefore a reflection of prevailing concerns, attitudes, and beliefs. In considering the relationship between film and culture, it is important to keep in mind that, while certain ideologies may be prevalent in a given era, not only is American culture as diverse as the populations that form it, but it is also constantly changing from one period to the next. Mainstream films produced in the late 1940s and into the 1950s, for example, reflected the conservatism that dominated the sociopolitical arenas of the time. However, by the 1960s, a reactionary youth culture began to emerge in opposition to the dominant institutions, and these antiestablishment views soon found their way onto screen—a far cry from the attitudes most commonly represented only a few years earlier. In one sense, movies could be characterized as America’s storytellers. Not only do Hollywood films reflect certain commonly held attitudes and beliefs about what it means to be American, but they also portray contemporary trends, issues, and...

Words: 4070 - Pages: 17

Free Essay

Statistical

...inferior in the same manner that Blacks are portrayed as intellectually inferior on tests devised by white psychologist. Furthermore, The hereditary perspective of intelligence is challenged by empirical evidence that centres on children with white ancestry to assess whether white genes influence intelligence while citing several sources that support the environmental explanation of the race gap in test scores. Consequently, this discussion questions the reliability and validity of intelligence tests that are used to reinforce the Black intellectual inferiority myth. The conclusive argument suggests in no uncertain terms that the Bell Curve is nothing more than the repackaging of racist pseudo-scientific conclusions by right wing academics, intent on rekindling a political debate premised on a racist manifesto to justify the withdrawal of intervention programmes that challenge existing social and racial hierarchies, that are perceived to transfer white power and privileges to undeserving Blacks. Special Thanks to: Dr. Madge Willis Morehouse College...

Words: 5892 - Pages: 24

Premium Essay

Aristocracy: Better Than Democracy?

...of an elitearistocratic class, privileged by birth and often by wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold some form of political power. However this distinction is often oversimplified. In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the citizens is an assembly by part. Simply put, a government when only a certain part of the general public can represent the public. Modern depictions of aristocracy regard it not as a legitimate aristocracy (rule by the best) but rather as a plutocracy (rule by the wealthy). ------------------------------------------------- Advocates of aristocracy * Aristotle * Charles Baudelaire * John Calvin * G. K. Chesterton * Julius Evola * Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer * Heraclitus...

Words: 3864 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Test 5 Chapter Study Questions

...Chapter Study Questions Exam Five 2305 (Chapters 4, 5, and 9) The Enduring Democracy Third Edition, 2013-2014, Dautrich and Yalof, Cengage Publishing. Be sure to skip a line between the question and the answer and skip another line before the next question. Chapter Four: Civil Liberties 1. What are civil liberties and when did individual rights recognized by government first appear in a legal charter? What charter? 73 - Those specific individual rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be denied to citizens by government. Most of these rights are in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. The original English legal charter, the Magna Carta of 1215. 2. How are civil liberties different from civil rights? 73 - Civil liberties may be distinguished from civil rights (sometimes called equal rights), which refer to rights that members of various groups (racial, ethnic, sexual, and so on) have to equal treatment by government under the law and equal access to society’s opportunities. 3. What were the Alien and Sedition Acts and were editors if newspapers actually jailed? 74 - Alien Act, which authorized the president to deport from the United States all aliens suspected of “treasonable or secret” inclinations; the Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the president during wartime to arrest aliens subject to an enemy power; and the Sedition Act, which criminalized the publication of materials that brought the U.S. government...

Words: 10537 - Pages: 43

Free Essay

Hari Kunzru's Works!

...Hari Kunzru Literature Resource Center | Ratcliffe, Sophie. "Hari Kunzru." British Writers: Supplement 14. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.Document URL http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1483000135&v=2.1&u=monroecc&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w | Title: Hari Kunzru  British Writer ( 1969 - )Author(s): Sophie RatcliffeSource: British Writers: Supplement 14. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2009. From Scribner Writers Series.Document Type: Biography, Critical essay[Image Omitted: ]Table of Contents:Biographical EssayFurther ReadingsWorks  In 2007, visitors encountering Hari Kunzru's website for the first time might have been a little surprised. Those searching for more information about this British author would have come across an old school photograph of a small boy aged perhaps five or six years old. A few lines of curt white typeface gave a few brief details: his current age, the fact that he was born in London in 1969, and, perhaps surprisingly, his blood group (HbAD) and a hyperlink to his genotype (human). Kunzru is joking, here, about the contemporary thirst for biographical details about writers. As he puts it, nowadays, "British journalists seem more interested in your biography or your publishing deal--the British press is interested in writers, but it isn't interested in writing" (Litt, 2004). The starkly playful nature of Kunzru's 2007 website poked fun both...

Words: 9462 - Pages: 38

Free Essay

Distributive Justice

...Additional Tools, Techniques and Dilemmas This document includes the cases and articles listed below in italics. You may find some of the principles described in the articles useful in doing your analysis of the cases. Velasquez, Distributive Justice Rich Dead, Poor Dead Kelo vs. City of New London _____________________________________________________________________________ Distributive Justice Manuel Velasquez Questions of distributive justice arise when different people put forth conflicting claims on society's benefits and burdens and all the claims cannot be satisfied. The central cases are those where there is a scarcity of benefits such as jobs, food, housing, medical care, income, and wealth-as compared to the numbers and the desires of the people who want these goods. Or (the other side of the coin) there may be too many burdens - unpleasant work, drudgery, substandard housing, health injuries of various sorts-and not enough people willing to shoulder them. If there were enough goods to satisfy everyone's desires and enough people willing to share society's burdens, then conflicts between people would not arise and distributive justice would not be needed. When people's desires and aversions exceed the adequacy of their resources, they are forced to develop principles for allocating scarce benefits and undesirable burdens in ways that are just and that resolve the conflicts in a fair way. The development of such principles is the concern of distributive...

Words: 12435 - Pages: 50

Premium Essay

Will Do Next Time

...Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank to accompany A First Look at Communication Theory Sixth Edition Em Griffin Wheaton College prepared by Glen McClish San Diego State University and Emily J. Langan Wheaton College Published by McGraw­Hill, an imprint of The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright Ó 2006,  2003, 2000, 1997, 1994, 1991 by The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may be reproduced in print form  solely for classroom use with A First Look At Communication Theory provided such reproductions bear copyright notice, but may not be reproduced in  any other form or for any other purpose without the prior written consent of The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any  network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. PREFACE Rationale We agreed to produce the instructor’s manual for the sixth edition of A First Look at Communication Theory because it’s a first-rate book and because we enjoy talking and writing about pedagogy. Yet when we recall the discussions we’ve had with colleagues about instructor’s manuals over the years, two unnerving comments stick with us: “I don’t find them much help”; and (even worse) “I never look at them.” And, if the truth be told, we were often the people making such points! With these statements in mind, we have done some serious soul-searching about the texts that so many teachers—ourselves...

Words: 159106 - Pages: 637

Premium Essay

The Life

...kind of action heroine who has powered The Hunger Games: Catching fire to a $158m US debut. (Lionsgate) Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen is a new type of female action film icon, and moviegoers should be very excited about that, writes Lisa Schwarzbaum. As Catching Fire ignites on movie screens around the world, this is what we know about the 21st Century heroine called Katniss Everdeen: she is strong but also soft. She is brave but she has doubts. She is a phenomenal fictional creation, yet is real enough that moviegoers can draw inspiration from her values, her resourcefulness, and her very human inner conflicts. And she is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who appears not only to be handling her current duties as Hollywood’s finest model of well-adjusted millennial female stardom but doing so with charm. Everdeen and Lawrence: golden girls both. Personified in Lawrence’s lithe movements and cool, focused gaze, Katniss is a brave, resourceful and independent-minded fighter; but she is also a troubled and vulnerably guilt-ridden human being. Nina Jacobson, the producer of the Hunger Games film franchise, puts it this way: “She is a singular heroine in that the burden of survival weighs on her. She has a ton of survivor’s guilt.  And she keeps surviving.” Girl on fire It is strange that behaving like a well-adjusted and responsible young woman counts as movie-star news – or that the popularity of a female lead character who is strong and feminine, brave even when scared, compassionate...

Words: 16355 - Pages: 66

Premium Essay

Prose Fiction

...SECOND DRAFT Contents Preamble Chapter 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Background Rationale Aims Interface with the Junior Secondary Curriculum Principles of Curriculum Design Chapter 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 1 Introduction Literature in English Curriculum Framework Strands and Learning Targets Learning Objectives Generic Skills Values and Attitudes Broad Learning Outcomes Chapter 3 5 7 9 10 11 11 13 Curriculum Planning 3.1 Planning a Balanced and Flexible Curriculum 3.2 Central Curriculum and School-based Curriculum Development 3.2.1 Integrating Classroom Learning and Independent Learning 3.2.2 Maximizing Learning Opportunities 3.2.3 Cross-curricular Planning 3.2.4 Building a Learning Community through Flexible Class Organization 3.3 Collaboration within the English Language Education KLA and Cross KLA Links 3.4 Time Allocation 3.5 Progression of Studies 3.6 Managing the Curriculum – Role of Curriculum Leaders Chapter 4 1 2 2 3 3 13 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 21 Learning and Teaching 4.1 Approaches to Learning and Teaching 4.1.1 Introductory Comments 4.1.2 Prose Fiction 4.1.3 Poetry i 21 21 23 32 SECOND DRAFT 4.1.4 Drama 4.1.5 Films 4.1.6 Literary Appreciation 4.1.7 Schools of Literary Criticism 4.2 Catering for Learner Diversity 4.3 Meaningful Homework 4.4 Role of Learners Chapter 5 41 45 52 69 71 72 73 74 Assessment 5.1 Guiding Principles 5.2 Internal Assessment 5.2.1 Formative Assessment 5.2.2 Summative Assessment 5.3 Public Assessment 5.3.1 Standards-referenced...

Words: 41988 - Pages: 168

Premium Essay

Public Speaking Book

...A BRIEF CONTENTS PART 1 • GETTING STARTED 1. Becoming a Public Speaker 2. From A to Z: Overview of a Speech 3. Managing Speech Anxiety 4. Ethical Public Speaking 5. Listeners and Speakers 1 2 8 1 4 23 30 PART 2 • DEVELOPMENT 6. Analyzing the Audience 7. Selecting a Topic and Purpose 8. Developing Supporting Material 9. Locating Supporting Material 10. Doing Effective Internet Research 1 Citing Sources in Your Speech 1. 36 37 49 57 64 73 83 PART 3 • ORGANIZATION 1 Organizing the Speech 2. 1 Selecting an Organizational Pattern 3. 1 Outlining the Speech 4. 92 93 103 1 10 PART 4 • STARTING, FINISHING, AND STYLING 15. Developing the Introduction and Conclusion 16. Using Language 1 22 1 23 1 31 PART 5 • DELIVERY 1 Choosing a Method of Delivery 7. 18. Controlling the Voice 19. Using the Body 1 39 1 40 1 44 1 48 PART 6 • PRESENTATION AIDS 20. Types of Presentation Aids 21. Designing Presentation Aids 22. A Brief Guide to Microsoft PowerPoint 154 155 161 164 PART 7 • TYPES OF SPEECHES 23. Informative Speaking 24. Persuasive Speaking 25. Speaking on Special Occasions 1 74 1 75 188 21 7 PART 8 • THE CLASSROOM AND BEYOND 230 26. Typical Classroom Presentation Formats 27. Science and Mathematics Courses 28. Technical Courses 29. Social Science Courses 30. Arts and Humanities Courses 31. Education Courses 32. Nursing and Allied Health Courses 33. Business Courses and Business Presentations 34. Presenting in Teams 35. Communicating in Groups 231 236 240 243 246 248 25 1 253 258...

Words: 104318 - Pages: 418

Premium Essay

African American History John Brown's Raid

...African American Studies Final Question Answers M5Q1 NOTES: 1. Which of the following best describes Henry David Thoreau's response to Brown's raid? |1.|Thoreau praises Brown and seeks to defend his memory against those who viewed him as a murderer or insane man| |2.|Thoreau is horrified by the violent methods Brown used, arguing that violence will turn many Americans who oppose the extension of slavery against the abolitionists| |3.|Thoreau argues that Brown should not be put to death as this would cause sectional strife and lead to a civil war| |4.|Thoreau is one of many abolitionists who plea for Brown's life to be saved| 3 points Question 2 1. Which of the following best summarizes the letters John Brown wrote to his family while in prison? |1.|Brown is very hopeful that his wife and remaining children will come visit him| |2.|Brown calls upon his sons to continue his work. Although he speaks in very vague terms, it is clear that he hopes they will launch another slave uprising so that his death will not be in vain| |3.|Brown is upset at the fact that some of his children are ashamed to be sons and daughters of the man who planed the raid at Harper's Ferry| |4.|Brown does not write any letters to his family members while in prison, a fact John Earle makes plain in his introduction| |5.|Brown is upbeat and speaks in mostly religious terms about how there is no need to grieve for their father| Question 3 1. Which of the following is TRUE regarding John...

Words: 10305 - Pages: 42