This sense of entitlement is easy and lazy, it doesn’t require truth or empathy; only conviction, a platform and some gusto. The right to free speech is not equivalent to speech without consequence. The notion that his verbose and hyperbolic rant deserves space and consideration ― even at the expense of the people he was harassing ― reflects a culture that often acts as though the right to free speech is equivalent to speech without consequence. Decrying a racist does not decry all white people; however, defending a racist contributes to the oppression of all people of color. Hate speech and harassment are not neutral or something that we can “agree to disagree on.” We aren’t talking about opinions on ice cream flavors, we are talking about xenophobia and racism that impacts the day to day experiences of people of color rooted in historic othering and explicit racism.

Source: Huffington Post May 20, 2018 17:48 UTC