Friday, September 24, 2004

Ferris wheel rides, homemade pies, cotton candy, hatred and ignorance. They will all be available at the 2004 Mississippi State Fair, which opens in two weeks. Because the white supremacist Nationalist Movement is setting up a booth at the fair, the event is already losing money.

The people of Mississippi are upset, as well they should be, by this turn of events, and the state fair commission is in a terrible position. If it permits the group to set up the booth, the entire nation will say, "well, that's Mississippi for you." If it denies the group permission to set up the booth, it will be looking at a First Amendment lawsuit, which it will lose because even the Nationalist Movement has a right to express itself.

Unfortunately, there have been threats made against both the group's leader, Richard Barrett, and the state fair commission. Death threats against a white supremacist are no different than death threats against Natalie Mains: As long as they are allowed to go on, they demonstrate that the United States is a violent and lawless nation in which the majority of the moment has a right to intimidate the minority.

One hopes that the people of Mississippi will organize large-scale demonstrations so that the rest of the country can determine where they really stand on this issue.

3 Comments:

"One hopes that the people of Mississippi will organize large-scale demonstrations so that the rest of the country can determine where they really stand on this issue."

I hope they do. But honestly, while I personally can't stomach the idea of a supremacy group of any sort, I am so glad that they are being allowed to set up their booth. Congratulations to the state of Mississippi for remembering that freedom of speech means freedom for EVERYONE, not just the majority, or the people you want to hear. And because of that, I am not sure that I agree with your summation of the situation, that the US is a nation in which the majority is allowed to intimidate the minority. I'd say, rather, that the US is a lawful nation, where everyone is allowed to speak their minds despite violent and despicable behavior from those who disagree.

Just my thoughts.
Artchick
http://www.negative-g.com/mental_rose

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:10 PM  

White supremicist groups do things like this because they secretly believe that once they get in the door, then they will be greeted with open arms. The best way to deal with them is let them have their booths or marches or whatever, so that they can be quickly disillusioned when ordinary people glare at them, say things to them, or even spit on them.
Molly Ivins loves to tell the story of one time the Klan sued and got the right to on Austin to protest MLK Day. The good liberals of Austin supported their right to spout their nonsense, and also showed up at the march to line up and down the street to moon the KKK as they walked by. That's how you deal with them.

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