By Dr. Jonathon Epstein
I was in Skokie on December 16th to take part in an anti-Klan demonstration at the Cook County Court House. The air was cold and damp and the temperature hung at 30 degrees for most of the day. Cook County law enforcement personnel were out in full force. Members of the Skokie Police, Cook County Sheriff's department, Illinois State Police, and representatives of various police departments from a number of nearby communities such as Glencoe were on hand. Many were in full riot gear complete with shotguns, K-9 animals, and water cannons. Mounted officers patrolled along Old Orchard Road, or stood at the ready along the taped off perimeter which was established to separate The Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations from those who had come, at the urging of the Jewish Defense League, to express their outrage that the Nazis had once again been able to rally in their community. All of this despite the overwhelming opposition to the Klan among area residents.
Most citizens of Skokie understood that these hate groups come to places like Skokie for only one reason; to terrorize and attempt to humiliate the community in what these racists glibly refer to as "Jewtown." Many people of conscience grappled with the conflict between enduring the vicious, ugly, and often violent rhetoric of the Klan, while at the same time defending the Klans right to free speech. Most understood that there was simply something wrong with having to make such a choice. Should not a community have a right to establish it's own standards for what it will and will not tolerate?
Hate speech is very similar to pornography. They serve a similar function; the arousal of powerful and base emotional responses. Both have been shown to lead to instances of extremely antisocial behavior under the proper set of circumstances. The availability of pornography is thought to contribute to the presence of prostitution, drug use, and the petty crimes that come part and parcel with them. Ardent feminists insist that pornography, through it's oppressive and exploitative representation of women, directly contributes to the extent of rape in our culture. Hate speech has been directly associated with the presence of violent youth gangs, organized racist militias, mass murder, and arson. The similarities between the two are obvious. Where there is pornography, there is sex. Where there is hate speech, there is violence. The real differences, however, become apparent when you look at official response to these two issues.
An adult bookstore or strip club has never, to my knowledge, been protected by dozens of law enforcement troops, ordered to uphold the constitutional right of a "sex worker" to exercise their free speech through the sale of bondage magazines or lap dances. To do so would be absurd. And yet when an "Aryan" Klans-man comes to Skokie to suggest that "Hitler didn't finish the job," that people of color are "mud-people" who should be deported, and that "God hates fags," he and his supporters are provided transportation under armed escort, given the use of the city workers locker room as a staging area despite the fact that many African American workers were in the locker room at the time, and allowed free and exclusive access to the county courthouse facilities under the protection of over 100 riot police in full battle gear. What kind of community standard is this?
The questions that beg asking after witnessing the events of December 16th are simple ones: what would have happened if Cook county and the city of Skokie had simply refused to offer the Klan any type of safeguarding? Would the Nazis have held their march? Despite their rhetoric to the contrary, I seriously doubt it. Only a suicidal man would walk through the crowd I was a part of last weekend to speak of "inferior races" and "social parasites." It appeared to me that the community standards of the citizens of Skokie and greater Chicago was made totally clear: Nazis and racists are not welcome to use our civic property as their podium.
These questions are not rhetorical ones. The Klan has already begun preparations for their next march in Skokie, and have stated that they plan on continuing to do so indefinitely. Apparently they felt safe in Skokie, which really isn't surprising given the protection they received at taxpayers expense. What the citizens of Skokie need to decide is whether or not they are willing to put up with another Klan intrusion. There is only one way to say "no." Skokie and other Cook county residents need to go to their city council meetings, write to the mayor, and make their opinion heard. Skokie needs to make it clear that the Klan is offensive to their community standards and unwelcome to protection or services provided by their tax dollars. The choice is clear: Make your voices heard, or be ready to welcome the Klan to Skokie again in July. Sometimes community standards must be stated loudly and clearly. This is just such an occasion.
