Originally posted by: sirjonk
Originally posted by: Dari
Originally posted by: sirjonk
Originally posted by: Dari
Originally posted by: sirjonk
Originally posted by: Dari
And those people here that are crowing about free speech need to realize that if you were to burn a cross (free speech?) and a black person sees it, he could have you prosecuted for hate crime. That's the law. Hanging a noose on a tree AFTER a couple of black students sat there is also incitement and the school should've been aggressive in its condemnation. But it's the south so...
If I throw a burning cross on someone's property, there's an issue there. But if I'm in a public forum and burn a cross in protest, that's freedom of expression and it doesn't matter who sees it or is offended, there's no law broken in that situation. Hate speech is contextual.
Wrong. If you burn a cross and a black person sees it, it's a federal crime. I remember hearing about this on a documentary about the resurgent KKK on the History Channel. I'll try to find the law for you.
Your love of free speech is purely theoretical and flies in the face of reality, which has a tremendous amount of historical baggage. Hence, this is why laws are written occasionally: as a response to new events that previous laws did not forsee.
You've got to be 15 years old. You think there is a law on the books somewhere that burning a cross is against the law, "if a black person sees it"? The law is that you can't use cross burning to intimidate, it has nothing to do with who sees it. The SC specifically ruled that it cannot be presumed a cross burning is intended to intimidate, it must be proved. If I went outside right now and said, I hate Jesus and I'm burning this cross, that's perfectly legal in any state in the union and protected by the 1st amendment.
If I am black and I see somebody burning a cross I can put them in the can for simply stating that I was intimidated. End of story. With very few exceptions (such as an accident), cross-burning is associated with a hate crime. You burning a cross in your yard will almost certainly lead to you being prosecuted. If you want to test the SC ruling you're more than welcome to try:laugh:.
Educate yourself: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1048518258780
"But the Supreme Court also said that under some circumstances, cross burning could be a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. So, by a separate vote, the Court struck down a part of the Virginia law at issue that said jurors could presume that anyone who burns a cross intended to intimidate."
Again, if I set up a protest and scream "I hate religion" and (safely) burn a cross in protest, I cannot be prosecuted anymore than I could for burning the flag. I'd love to get arrested for that. Deprivation of civil liberties cases means big bucks. Hate crimes aren't about whether the person reporting it feels intimidated, it's whether a reasonable person in their situation would feel intimidated.
And there you go. Why don't you try it and invite the media over. I want to see what'll happen.