A Right Way and a Wrong Way

April 20th, 2009

Last week, former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO)-the anti-immigration crusader-faced off against a crowd of student protesters at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).  Several protestors held a banner in front of Mr. Tancredo as he was speaking, a window was broken, and the event was shut down.

NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía stated, "There is a right way and a wrong way to protest.  This was the wrong way.  Mr. Tancredo has every right to his views, and those assembled had every right to hear them."

But it's difficult to muster sympathy for most of the parties involved.

Definitely not for UNC-Chapel Hill's administration.  Knowing that a provocative speaker was coming to campus, it should have taken steps to ensure a more secure venue-setting up an area for protestors and establishing sufficient campus security before the situation got out of hand.

Surely not for Tancredo himself, whose inflammatory rhetoric regularly demonizes immigrants.

And certainly not for William Gheen-head of the virulently anti-immigrant group ALI-PAC-whose YouTube video conveniently edits out the one true hero at the event:  the Latina student association leader who courageously called out the protestors, reminding them of the importance of respecting the right to free speech.

This coming Wednesday, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA)-a self-described "opponent of illegal immigration and supporter of limits on legal immigration"-is scheduled to speak at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Let's hope that all parties adopt the Latina student leader's approach at this event, so that everyone's rights are respected.