More than one side of speech worth protecting
State Sen. William T. Ligon, Jr. introduced Senate Bill 339 to ensure constitutional protection for speakers on campuses whose “conservative” messages are interrupted by students with opposing positions. SB 339’s trading one party’s “free speech” protections for another’s throttles students’ speech in favor of speech the senator finds agreeable, directly violating the “content neutral” principles of the First Amendment. Ironically, these speakers are paid — mostly from student activity fees! They’ve made themselves contentious, controversial “brands,” cynically created to draw crowds. Being shouted down by one’s customers is not a violation of one’s constitutional rights, unless government does it. SB 339 is government, and it favors one message over another. That’s a no-no, as any high school government student can tell our Legislature. The pundits the senator wants coddled are tough enough pontificating on camera behind a microphone. Why are they so thin-skinned out here in the real world?
NEIL WILKINSON, DUNWOODY
Pitts’ is vilest of race-baiters
Leonard Pitts writes a number of columns in which he says factually inaccurate and/or outrageous things. His statement that the average GOP lawmaker spouts “the anti-tax, anti-government, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim, anti-black anti-abortion creed so attractive to the mostly white, predominately older, and disproportionately male” voters is so racist, sexist, homophobic and obnoxious that it should never appear in a respectable newspaper. Freedom of speech allows Pitts to say such an outrageous thing, but he shouldn’t be given a wide platform as AJC to have such an offensive thought expressed. You have a few liberal opinion writers who say things far removed from fact and reality (Paul Krugman and E.J. Dionne), but at least they are not what Leonard Pitts is. I could call him some quite nasty words, but that would only lower me to his level, not a place any decent human should be.
BILL WHITMER, SMYRNA
QB’s act was bad sportsmanship
One of my former coaches once stated that the manner in which you accept defeat says a lot about your reputation as a sportsman. Last Sunday night, Tom Brady, five-time Super Bowl winner, lost. He was outplayed by the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles – a second string quarterback. For those who watched the Super Bowl game, one would have thought the natural thing for Brady to do at the end of the game would have been to look for Foles and congratulate him. Not so. Instead, Brady jogged off the field in disgust, not giving Foles a second thought. That was it. Brady has always been a gloater when he wins. But a good loser he is not.
T IM GROZA, GREENSBORO
Easy to see why some HBCU’s struggle
From a financial standpoint, it’s not difficult to understand why HBCUs are disappearing (“Perilous time for black colleges,” AJC, Feb. 4): With a dwindling student base, the cash is just not there to maintain the buildings, pay instructors and cover all the other expenses associated with operating a teaching academy. Clinging to a particular tradition is fine and honorable in school choice, but amalgamation has effectively put that tradition to rest. Ms. Brown’s daughter (“Why a proud UGA alum nudged her child toward an HBCU,” AJC, Feb. 4) will enjoy the camaraderie at Howard, but will likely want to switch to a larger college that offers more career choices.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
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