At
YSHS last Wednesday—
ACLU
sparks debate with students
Last Wednesday morning
Yellow Springs High School and McKinney Middle School students packed
the school gym to talk about freedom of speech with two representatives
from the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. Many students’
ears perked up when the state ACLU executive director Chris Link answered
a question by defending the Ku Klux Klan’s right to free expression.
Using their own right
to free speech, students challenged what was being said.
“What about
flag burning? That’s a form of free speech,” one high schooler
asked during the assembly.
“What’s
the ACLU’s position on gay and lesbian marriage?” someone
else asked. “Why are you here?” asked another.
The ACLU leaders
were there because they had been invited by the Bill of Rights Committee
of the Yellow Springs Human Relations Commission and the Social Justice
Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Yellow Springs,
which asked them to talk about the Patriot Act, which the ACLU has been
litigating against throughout the past two years.
“It took Gudgel
three seconds to say yes,” Bill of Rights Committee member Don Wallis
said.
“There is educational
value in listening to differing opinions,” Yellow Springs High School
principal John Gudgel said. “Our teachers do a great job here, but
it’s nice to bring someone in from outside who is knowledgable about
a cause and have the students dialogue with them.”
HRC members felt
youth should be informed about the action the U.S. Government is taking,
HRC member Joan Chappelle said.
“The Patriot
Act is one of the most disturbing pieces of legislation we have ever passed
in this country,” she said. “Since the founding fathers we
have never had anything in writing that took away our rights like that,
it’s so out of sync with democracy.”
The intent of the
Patriot Act, passed one month after the 9/11/01 terrorist attack, was
to expand the power of the authorities to identify and capture terrorists,
Link said. But in effect, the bill strips citizens of many of their privacy
rights and allows regular criminals, protesters and any group endangering
human life to be prosecuted as terrorists without due process, she said.
In the process of
gaining familiarity with free speech issues, students actively challenged
their own assumptions and beliefs.
The ACLU does not
defend the beliefs of particular groups and individuals, but it defends
their right to have and express those beliefs, particularly when they
are unpopular or in the minority, Link said through the microphone. For
instance, the ACLU defended the right of a group of American Nazis to
demonstrate in Skokie, Ill., in 1977.
The thought of defending
politically incorrect speech was obviously new to some students, and many
challenged what was being said.
“No matter
how unpopular your speech is, everyone gets to talk in a democracy,”
Link said. “We don’t shut people up but we answer them with
good arguments and ideas.”
HRC members weren’t
sure how the students would react to the ACLU or if they would be interested
in the ideas, but they wanted to try.
Link, for one, was
impressed. In the over 200 school presentations she has given in the past
two years, she had never heard some of the questions that Yellow Springs
students asked, she said. After the assembly, Link and Textoris visited
Joyce McCurdy’s history and government classes to continue discussion
with the students.
When Textoris asked
one class if they had heard of the Patriot Act before that day, six students
raised their hands. After asking for a review of the main tenets of both
the Patriot Act and the Bill of Rights, students started in with a barrage
of questions from the very specific to the ACLU’s position on a
broad scope of issues.
Students wondered
how long the Patriot Act would be in effect and what specifically the
ACLU is doing to help those harmed by the bill. They also wanted to know
the ACLU’s position on hate crimes, campaign finance reform, the
electoral college system, and how involved the organization was in foreign
affairs.
“What about
socialized medicine and the people’s right to the pursuit of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness?” one student asked.
Teacher Kathy Burkland
said the visit was beneficial because students got to take the time to
delve more deeply into certain ideas and philosophies. Some students felt
the same way.
“It was very
interesting, and I learned a lot of things about the Patriot Act I didn’t
understand before this,” student Sean Lake said.
“I didn’t
like our government before, and now I don’t like it even more,”
student Max Vondruska said.
“I’m
very happy the ACLU exists, though I’m ashamed it’s necessary,”
student Martin Borchers said. “It reflects on our society that we
still have to have a group to protect free speech.”
Villagers apparently
had an interest in the ACLU’s presentation as well. Over 80 residents
participated in the community forum that night at the Bryan Center, and
more came to the teach-in the following day for students, faculty and
administration at Antioch College.
Link called the invigorated
public interest one of the “updrafts” of the passage of the
Patriot Act. The good thing about any misgoverning is the motivation it
gives people to get involved and participate, she said.
The same can be said
for the spread of ideas, that they get students and youth to think critically
and analyze issues for themselves. Yellow Springs schools encourage that
process, and they invite other organizations with differing viewpoints
to talk with students and expose them to other ideas, Gudgel said.
—Lauren
Heaton
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