In 1976 a neo-Nazi group from Chicago sought a license to march through a Jewish suburb (Skokie) but was roadblocked by a state court injunction.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) surprised the whole world by showing up in court and defending the First Amendment rights of American Nazis. The blowback from the public was immediate and ferocious.
In Chicago the ACLU executive director, who happened to be Jewish,* didn't yield to public pressure despite a huge membership loss, not to mention countless accusing fingers from Jews and non-Jews.
The ACLU's perseverance paid off. Freedom of speech had a happy ending---or beginning.
The United States Supreme Court's 1977 decision was a win for the ACLU on free speech and assembly (National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, 432 U.S. 43).
Ironically the Nazi group chickened out and canceled its Skokie march at the last minute, knowing that it would face tens of thousands of counter-protesters. Free speech had turned out to be a peaceful, effective way of denazification.
In our democracy, if the First Amendment doesn't apply to all Americans, then we may not be able to prevent the government from denying free speech rights to some Americans, which will invite the specter of dictatorship. In other words, "free speech for some means free speech for none," as the ACLU puts it succinctly.
With free speech as an ideal and practice, the American government has to be a people's government. Meanwhile, the American people must not be a government's people.
Author: renqiulan
(To me, a book is a pile of blank papers until I read it. )
* Aryeh Neier, "Defending My Enemy"(1979)
