Philly Mayor Suggests Magazine Article on Race Relations Isn't Protected by the 1st Amendment

The Volokh Conspiracy ^ | 03/18/2013 | Eugene Volokh

[Pyro7480]

Philadelphia magazine published an article called Being White in Philly, with the subtitle, “Whites, race, class, and the things that never get said.” Apparently the Mayor of Philadelphia, Michael Nutter, thinks there’s not even a constitutional right to say those things; in a letter to the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, the mayor argues,

While I fully recognize that constitutional protections afforded the press are intended to protect the media from censorship by the government, the First Amendment, like other constitutional rights, is not an unfettered right, and notwithstanding the First Amendment, a publisher has a duty to the public to exercise its role in a responsible way. I ask the Commission to evaluate whether the “speech” employed in this essay is not the reckless equivalent of “shouting ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater,” its prejudiced, fact-challenged generalizations an incitement to extreme reaction.

The implication — which I think is very strong — that the “speech” is indeed unprotected by the First Amendment under the “incitement” exception is absolutely wrong: Under Brandenburg v. Ohio and Hess v. Indiana, the speech in the article is clearly protected....

The specific call in the mayor’s letter, which is for the Commission to “conduct an inquiry into the state of racial issues, biases, and attitudes within and among the many communities and neighborhoods in the City of Philadelphia,” and to “consider specifically whether Philadelphia Magazine and the writer, Bob Huber are appropriate for rebuke by the Commission,” is not as troubling — both the mayor and the Commission have the right to express their own views, and indeed it is commonly argued that the proper alternative to suppression of speech is counterspeech. But the Mayor’s rationale wasn’t just, “this speech is constitutionally protected but so is our response.”

[Pyro7480]

Bloomberg, and now Nutter. This needs to be nipped in the bud and quickly.

[knarf]

American History 101 ... Freedom of the Press.

Watch old "Lone Ranger" episodes and research Clayton Moore and HIS fight with the gummint about his (copyrighted) mask

[SkyDancer]

What if a black reporter did the same thing but in reverse? Would Nutter come out with the same argument?

When liberals discriminate, it’s called “freedom of choice”. When conservatives do it, it’s “discrimination”.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

When the theater is actually burning shouting “fire” is a civic duty.

[circlecity]

This is the second thread I’ve seen on this but neither discussed, even generally, what the statement were in the original article that have the Mayor all up in vapors. The sources the threads were based on didn’t discuss this either. What was said or alleged that has the Mayor in such a tizzy?

[MrB]

“alleged” is

that blacks aren’t always victims and whites aren’t always oppressors.

That concept is VERBOTEN.

[NFHale]

Can’t have them White Folks waking up and seeing the hustle for what it is now, can we Nutter???

As race hustler and street thug former Mayor John Street said “Da Bruthas and Sistas are in control here now!!!”

[count-your-change]

But he did get to keep his Foster-Grants.

[duffee]

Can’t have free speech that exposes racism or racist? or does that depend where the racism is and who the racist are? Probably should have a government agency to pre-approve all written and spoken words to insure they comply with acceptable free speech and are politically correct.

[Augustinian monk]

The article is very mild actually. Anonymous whites discussing the problem of inner city crime, etc. Really radical stuff. /s
Just shows you how close we are to becoming a bannana republic with all these little Napoleons in power.

[MamaTexan]

The Mayor hath spoken. Thou shalt panic.

LOL! Who do these clowns think they are, anyway?

[kevao]

I wonder if this prick was critical last week of Ted Cruz, when he asked Feinstein about the constitutionality of doing with the First Amendment what she was doing with the Second?

[JoeProBono]

[wardaddy]

Crazy talk

[Mr Rogers]

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/white-philly/

Only a black supremacist could find any terrible wrong there.

[NFHale]

“...Crazy talk...”

So was socialized medicine ten years ago.

[loveliberty2]

Good discussion of the original meaning of freedom of speech or of the press here just in case the mayor or those discussing his comments are interested.

[jimt]

Bingo !

[TexasCajun]

Not all the crime in Fairmount, of course, is perpetrated by black guys from Brewerytown, the neighborhood north of Girard. But that’s the perception, and it’s generally correct: Another day, I chat with two cops sitting in their car outside Henneberry’s, a drugstore on 24th Street, and ask them who commits crimes here, large and small. Mostly, they say, black guys from North Philly.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Silly magazine! Don’t you know the First Amendment is for porn? /sarc