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Showing Original Post only (View all)Student's arrest for racist post sparks free speech debate [View all]
Source: ABC News
The arrest of a Connecticut high school student accused of posting racist comments about a Black classmate on social media is being supported by civil rights advocates, but free speech groups are calling it an unusual move by police that raises First Amendment issues.
A 16-year-old student in a classroom at Fairfield Warde High School allegedly took a photo of a Black classmate and posted it on Snapchat on May 7 with a caption that included a racial slur and racist comments. The teen who made the post is white, according to the Black student's mother.
Police in Fairfield, Connecticut, arrested the student on a state hate crime charge of ridicule on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality or race. The misdemeanor dating back to 1917 has been called an unconstitutional infringement on free speech rights by the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and some law school professors.
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Having racist ideas or sharing racist ideas is something that we actually protect, said Emerson Sykes, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU's national chapter. Even if that viewpoint is offensive, even if it's deplorable, we don't want the government making the call about what's OK to say and think and what is not. But we have limitations on that right.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/students-arrest-racist-post-sparks-free-speech-debate-77776153?cid=clicksource_4380645_13_hero_headlines_headlines_hed