August 4, 2015

By Steve Levy

Published in The Washington Times (accessed via The Wayback Machine)

For a nation that prides itself on free speech and expression, it is disturbing to see how common it has become to attempt to stifle the thoughts of African-American and Hispanic conservatives.  Take for instance how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was treated by many commentators after he voted with the majority in ruling that numerous southern states and counties no longer have to receive Justice Department approval prior to enacting election laws.

“A symbolic Jew has invited Hitler to commit genocide against his own people.”  This is what radical professor and MSNBC commentator Michael Eric Dyson said about Justice Thomas after his vote on the Voting Rights Act.

Meanwhile, a white Democratic State Senator from Minnesota called the Justice “Uncle Thomas” referencing the Harriet Beecher Stowe black apologist for the oppression that was being heaped upon his race by the white slave owners.

If you listen to Dyson or even leaders from the Democratic Party, from Jesse Jackson to  the NAACP, this ruling was somehow going to sanction a return of the poll tax or literacy test as a prerequisite for African-Americans and other minorities to cast a vote.  Unfortunately, far too many gullible Americans will buy this nonsense simply because there hasn’t been enough proper reporting on what this decision actually said.

Upon enacting the first Voting Rights Act in 1965, Congress rightly concluded that racism and attempts to deny African-Americans the vote were so widespread that Federal intervention was an absolute necessity to ensure that African-Americans in certain southern states were not further disenfranchised.

In this recent decision, the Justices paid homage to this landmark piece of legislation, which they concluded had performed its job admirably — that being the eradication of widespread suppression of the minority vote.  The actions of the Court do not eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, nor does it deny judicial access to anyone who feels that his or her voting rights have been infringed upon.  The Justices simply looked at the specific states and counties that were under the umbrella of the original Act in 1965 and concluded that the culture and the atmosphere had changed to such a marked degree that there was no longer evidence of the type of widespread denial of access to vote as there had been 50 years ago.  All the ruling said was that these counties would no longer have to get Justice Department approval before they enact their voting laws prospectively.

And for this, Clarence Thomas was compared to Adolf Hitler and Uncle Tom? The outrage here should be focused on those who would so disparage a minority conservative after simply speaking his mind.

The vicious hate words are not limited to African-American conservatives.  Just look at how Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was treated by former New Mexico  Democratic Governor, Bill Richardson, who after disagreeing with Cruz’s conservative policies on immigration, claimed “I don’t believe he should be defined as Hispanic.” Richardson’s outlandish statement was not due to anything lacking in Cruz’s family tree.  No, it related purely to Cruz’s politics.  If you were not liberal on the issue of illegal immigration, Richardson and his liberal ilk would call you all kinds of disgusting names.  But it is truly at a different level altogether, when one liberal Hispanic tries to expel you from his race because he does not like your conservative politics.

Hate speech is off-limits to academics and the media elite when it comes to Muslims, gays, and other minorities, unless of course those minorities happen to be conservative.

College campuses could welcome former radicals such as Bill Ayers, Kathy Boudin and Angela Davis, but will protest the thought of a conservative Congressman such as Peter King being able to speak even on the campus of conservative St. John’s University, as recently happened this past graduation season.

Freedom of speech is what made America great.  It is time for those in the media to stop seeking to destroy the speech of minorities who happen to take a right of center political view on the issues of the day.

Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political and business consulting from. He served as Suffolk County Executive  2004-2011, and as a NYS Assemblyman.