by Casey Jacketta
U-Wire
Last Saturday, Rev. Matt Hale of the Illinois-based World Church of the Creator spoke at the Sugarhouse Branch of the Salt Lake County Library. Despite what its name implies, the organization is not what those who consider themselves religious would associate with a "church." This church adamantly preaches racism and anti-Semitism.
The Salt Lake County Library system allows any person or group to reserve the meeting rooms for free, unless the group plans to charge an admission fee. Hale did not plan to charge admission to his meeting, so the Sugarhouse branch of the library agreed to allow him to speak there free of charge.
A number of citizens in the area had a knee-jerk reaction. They wanted Hale and his followers banned because of his racist and anti-Semitic views, but the library stood by its decision and allowed Hale to hold the meeting. Though many disagree with Hale's beliefs and find them ignorant and disgusting, that is no reason to stifle his right to free speech.
As Americans, we are given this right, as well as a responsibility. Some may feel that freedom of speech is only applicable to those who are sending "politically correct" messages. This is not the case. Nowhere does the Bill of Rights only guarantee "politically correct" forms of speech. It is when we judge who can speak and who cannot that our government begins to become like many of those regimes that we have fought against in the past.
The Salt Lake County Library system made the right decision in letting Hale hold the meeting. Many times, organizations similar to Hale's will use this tactic as a test. In fact, Hale had scheduled a meeting in another Salt Lake City location before the county library's downtown location. However, he never showed up. About a dozen people did, and 10 of those were police officers.
When communities have a knee-jerk reaction and refuse to allow his organization to hold a meeting there, Hale sues. He has successfully sued a library in Illinois that refused to allow him and his organization to schedule a time in the meeting room. The Salt Lake County Library system was not willing to take the chance, and it was never pressured to.
Rather than holding a rally against Hale, which would have inevitably resulted in some type of confrontation, local citizens made the area surrounding the library into a quiet "hate free zone." Local businesses were given signs to post in their windows.
This type of quiet retaliation had quite an effect. Hale came expecting and wanting a confrontation and left disappointed. Rather than stirring the community up and creating a divide, he left it unified. Few openly agreed with Hale's message, but even fewer were willing to give in to his desire for a confrontation. The confrontation would have inevitably caused more media exposure for Hale's group, giving him the publicity that he wanted.
So, without the public challenge from those who opposed his view, Hale was left high and dry.
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The problem is that white supremacists' presence on the Wasatch front is growing. There are four separate white supremacist gangs recognized by the Salt Lake Metro Gang Unit. Currently, there are 352 white supremacists in Utah of whom the Gang Unit is aware. Police believe that the number is low because it only represents those who have been in prison.
The growing strength of hate groups could easily provoke widespread and highly public confrontation between the groups and more moderate Utahns. Groups that thrive on hatred also thrive on confrontation. Once confrontation is given to groups like Hale's, however, publicity is given as well. Fortunately, few Utahns were aware of the meeting held at Sugarhouse library last weekend, making it all the more difficult for Hale to get the attention he desired.
Groups similar to Hale's want nothing more than to spread their message of hate. However, even though some people's messages are repugnant, everyone has a right to free speech. Just as every American is guaranteed the right to free speech, we are also unable to prevent those with whom we disagree from speaking. With our right to free speech comes a responsibility to ensure that even those we do not agree with have the same right.
Even though many within the Sugarhouse community agree that the messages of Hale and many others are evil, ignorant and wrong, we still must give them the same freedom that those of us with less hateful and more "politically correct" messages enjoy. Communities faced with this problem must have faith in their citizens to listen to the message and make the decision about who is speaking and whether or not their message is worth believing.
When a group that advocates hate enters a community to speak its values, the best response is the one taken by Sugarhouse businesses: creating a "hate free zone" and not giving in to the group's desire for a confrontation.
Because the response was not completely passive, it reached the often hard to find middle ground between a knee-jerk reaction and complete compliance. Hale left disappointed, and the community quietly stood together in its resolve to stop hate in its tracks.
It's amazing how much more peaceful and legal means accomplish than confrontations filled with violence and hatred.
