NAACP: No Free Speech for you, Mr. Meyers

We all know about the furor of protest by Rev. Al Sharpton and other African-American public figures over a cartoon by the New York Post's Sean Delonas showing a chimpanzee shot and killed by the police (as had just actually happened to a pet chimpanzee gone berserk). Said one of the cops: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

From the NAACP point of view, this was regarded as a racist attack on President Barack Obama. They called for protests and a boycott against the New York Post and demanded the firing of the cartoonist and the paper's editor. This was advocated by both the NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous and its chairman, Julian Bond.

This brings us to Michael Meyers, a former assistant director of the NAACP, personal assistant to its late executive director, Roy Wilkins, and a protege of Dr. Kenneth Clark, whose research played a major role in the Supreme Court's decision that declared public-school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.

Meyers is a well publicized defender of the First Amendment and he publicly objected to "this exercise in sheer racial rhetoric." He stated that "all political pundits deserve a wide berth for social criticism and for parodying and poking fun at and criticizing our political leaders, no matter the skin color or race of the public official."

So during the NAACP's annual meeting at the New York Hilton Hotel, Meyers rose following a member's speech calling for a boycott of the New York Post but also of all the national enterprises of its owner, Rupert Murdock. At the microphone, Meyers began: "I wish to speak in opposition."

Chairman Julian Bond sharply cut off Meyers stating: "I do not recognize you. Your views are not welcomed here."

Bond cut off the microphone and summoned security personnel to escort Meyers out of the room.

Why the suppression of opposing viewpoints? Why do they choose to suppress free speech when those viewpoints run counter to the current leadership?

Did you know that Meyers is the creator and head of the New York Civil Rights Coalition? He directs the "Civil Rights and Race Relations Project" in the city's schools. His volunteers work to "help equip students with the critical thinking skills and information they need in order to challenge common stereotypes and myths about people because of skin color, religion, national origin, disability, sex, ethnicity, or sexual orientation."

They would "use Socratic teachng methods, role play, Devil's advocacy, courtroom scenarios and mock trials to engage the students in examining all kinds of stereotypes."

It goes to show how the NAACP is more intent on reviving the racial stereotypes in order to maintain their power and influence, and sacrificing free speech in the process. Racial equality and harmony indeed.

Real Clear Politics - Cartoon Protest Pits NAACP Against Free Speech