A Voice for All

             In a move he must have thought would strike an inspiring blow for freedom of speech, Orange County District Attorney Tony Wrackaukas filed criminal charges against eleven students for . . . speaking their mind and fighting for something they believed in.  The occasion for this outrage?  A speech in February 2010 by Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, which the eleven apparently disrupted. 

The District Attorney's actions are absurd.  Since when has expressing one's views become a crime in America? The prosecution of the students is an attack on the most precious of American liberties--the freedom of speech.  By silencing the protestors, we undermine the essential freedoms upon which our country was founded. 

In February of this year, eleven of the protestors were formally charged by the Orange County District Attorney for the misdemeanor crimes of conspiring to disrupt a meeting and actually disrupting a meeting. If convicted they could face fines and a jail sentence of up to six months. Their arrest and prosecution have sparked a debate in Orange County and beyond.

            District Attorney Wrackaukas’ decision reflects poorly on his office, Orange County, and the United States as a whole. Conspiring to disrupt a meeting and actually then disrupting the meeting should not be illegal and definitely not something one should end up in jail for; especially in a nation that has been founded upon free speech. The students were in fact trying to have their voices heard in a country that often tends not to listen to the Muslim perspective.

            According to District Attorney Wrackaukas, students deserve to be prosecuted for having prevented Ambassador Oren from having the opportunity to speak. "In our democratic society,"  Mr. Wrackaukas said with no sense of irony, "we cannot tolerate a deliberate, organized, repetitive and
collective effort to significantly disrupt a speaker who hundreds assemble to hear." 

When it comes to what Wrackaukas says, freedom of speech means ‘shut up and listen’.

This argument sounds thin to me, as it probably would have to our founding fathers. Would Mr. Wrackaukas have tolerated a “deliberate, organized and collective effort to” dump tea into the Boston Harbor? It seems likely that he would have prosecuted our founding fathers in the name of King George.

            Above all other freedoms, our four fathers value the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of speech. They recognize that these freedoms were essential for a democratic society. It is through free speech that abuses can be identified and grievances can be expressed peacefully. It seems that the Muslim students at UC Irvine have a better grasp of this fact than does the District Attorney.

            Freedom of speech is often most important when that speech is unpopular or threatening to the powers that are in place. With the ongoing wars between the United States and opposing forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and now Libya, many Americans are not receptive Muslim voices. In this post 9-11 era, many Americans feel threatened by Islam and would like to silence Muslim voices. They see Muslim voices as “un-American”, nothing could be farther from the truth.

As a nation of immigrants, America has continually been reinvigorated by waves of immigration from every corner of the world. Immigrants from Europe, from Asia, from Africa, and the Americas, have come to our country and brought their own perspectives and raised their voices to push America farther down the road of freedom and equality.

 We have in our nation more than six million Muslims, and they represent a large and growing percentage of the worlds population. Their perspective is valuable here in America, and its expression will help America to behave responsibly within the larger world community. To silence the Muslim voice in America will undermine our democratic society and our standing in the world.

            By respecting Muslim voices in America we will not be committing a radical departure from traditional American values, instead we will be returning to the values upon which our nation was built.