Charles Lawrence On Racist Speech Summary

“On Racist Speech” an article written by Charles R. Lawrence III speaks about the controversy because of what the First Amendment abides to, and how it’s right to the people is being abused through racial prejudice speech. Lawrence uses logic, ethos, and examples to emphasize his point and Lawrence states his thesis when he clearly states his opposition of the racist and prejudice speech being protected by the First Amendment. Lawrence uses the case “Brown v. the Board of Education” as an example to give his readers a situation to show how the people having freedom to use racial speech was causing uncomfortable environment for those receiving these comments.
Lawrence begins his first paragraph by stating that he spent a better part of his

life as a dissenter, and the situation that led him to his interest in the First Amendment. He uses ethos in this paragraph to show his credibility by relating the subject to himself, showing that he has experienced the situation. Lawrence argues that racist speech should not be put under the protection of the First Amendment. The protection of bad speech from government regulation only leads to the acceptance of racist and prejudice speech in society as a just right they have to say whatever they want, without considering the effects it has towards the racial minority. The response in which the recent surge of racist incidents on college and university campuses and even the attempts to regulate harassing speech , is justifying the wrong of the use of racial speech, by arguing that a person freedom of speech(First Amendment) conflicts with racism.
The little effort being put into listening and understanding the victims of such prejudice shows how much they care for any race, gender, or even sexual preference emphasizes their view of minorities as second- class citizens. Lawrence thinks it is ironic that civil libertarians whom usually fight for individual rights and personal freedoms are against efforts made by universities to provide minorities with Constitutional protection.
Lawrence uses the case of “Brown v. Board of Education” –which talked mostly on the issue of segregated schools and that segregation gave out a message that blacks were inferior to the white; it also expressed the need for equal citizenship. “This conveys the message that signs and symbols signal the inferiority of blacks” (62) The racial assaults can go up to the point where it can hinder the students concentration and learning, because of the way they feel they are perceived within the hostile environment. Lawrence states, “Racial insults are particularly undeserving of the first Amendment’s protection because the perpetrator’s intention is not to discover truth or initiate dialogue but to injure the victim.” In situations like these, it is difficult for the minority because if they respond then the situation would most likely turn into a fight, which will be mostly seen as a wrong on the minority’s side, so most of them have to submit to their assaulter.

Lawrence uses pathos to make the reader connect with the student that is going through the situations of racial assault; he states that the university should be the one’s making sure that students receive equal educational opportunity and regulations that ensure a student safe passage to whatever area they might want to go.

A minority student should not be scared to walk across campus because they feel they are going to be racially assaulted, they should instead feel safe and at home.
The oppositions of Lawrence’s paper argue stating that in the position of the minorities being silenced is not necessarily true because the person being insulted could say something back that is just as offensive. The person could also be choosing to be the bigger person.
Lawrence understands that the government cannot regulate racist speech because people have the right to listen or ignore them. The people that choose to this do not see such acts as necessary because most feel it is only offensive when it going on in the home, Lawrence argues against that stating that the campus and universities. Lawrence feels as though in order to stop the racial and prejudice assault, the campuses and universities will have to set up regulations, in which they instill, it might lead up to racial violence are the students homes. The peoples misunderstanding of the First Amendment will always lead to confusing within such topics that goes against the First

Amendment.
In conclusion, Lawrence was fighting for the right of racial speech to not be protected under the First Amendment to help and prevent racial assault; he uses rhetorical modes, and the BOE case. He argued that letting such actions occur is letting people to be injured or victimized. He also provided different approaches to solving this problem, while considering the opposition’s points.