A deadly white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia has blurred the lines between the right to free speech and the worst excesses of hate speech. On Saturday, confrontations between white power groups and some counter-protesters turned violent and Heather Heyer, a 32-year old Charlottesville native, was killed when a man drove a car into a crowd. The driver has been arrested on charges of second degree murder and the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Heyer’s death.
As Democrats and Republicans denounced the rally’s bigotry and hatred, President Donald Trump first chose not to directly condemn the white supremacist groups, saying he saw hate and violence on “many sides.” But on Monday, amid mounting pressure, he changed his approach and called the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists “evil.”
That denunciation came as organizers were planning similar rallies across the country, including one here in Boston. The events have been billed as free speech rallies, but they look a lot like racist provocations. The event planned for Saturday on the Boston Common has raised questions about who will participate, who will show up to protest, and how the city can keep things from turning violent.
First amendment attorney Robert Bertsche, a partner at Prince Lobel Tye, LLC, and attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice Sophia Hall joined Adam Reilly to discuss the rally and debate the difference between free speech and hate speech.
