All of this talk on free speech reminds me of how vital it is to study history - not revisionist accounts - but empirical history and power struggle. Especially as a Pakistani-American who has lived 15 years in Pakistan and some 13 years in the U.S., “free speech” fascinates me as a supposed human right. So, here are some quick thoughts from history about “free speech” in the legislative and political context of the United States.
On the surface, we can all ostensibly agree that “free speech” is a democratic right. But once power structures - more specifically laws - are concerned, “free speech” isn’t so clearly cut out for everyone across the board. If it was, American history would not be so replete with laws that essentially denied certain ideologies and their human followers no space to speak and, most importantly, no space to live.
Over time, I’ve learned that many Americans have abstract understandings of free speech. It’s not understood in terms of institutionalized power imbalance. The general assumption is that we all enjoy equal and consistent pathways to free speech. This is false. Many of us were granted the right to speak and conduct freely after certain legal battles. And those pathways are still under attack. The language is different but the hostility remains the same.
Examples from American history shows the power imbalance has been real. People often forget that the “free speech” of minorities and leftists has been the main target of systematic attacks. Here are a few.
1. The California Criminal Syndicalism Act of 1919 hit poor farmers the hardest. Some were deported, others were sent to prison for decades.
The Internal Security Act of 1950, also known as the McCarran Internal Security Act, hit leftists the worst for being “disloyal."
The Levering Act of 1950 demanded poor workers to sign a "loyalty oath.” Some 30 tenured professors were fired because they simply refused.
The Palmer Raids from the 1920s against leftists, esp. anarchists, included censoring the free speech of left-leaning workers. Not rightists.
The COINTELPRO program hit racial minorities the worst, specifically Black activists and their right to free speech.
The Dillingham-Hardwick Act of 1918 hit anti-war activists and their free speech along with labor unions. Deportations, imprisonments.
The Smith Act of 1940 regulated free speech of anti-war activists and minorities. The far-right used it to persecute marginalized voices.
The list goes on. The idea that the ideological right in America has suffered an equal amount of incursions is simply false. There is a reason why many leftists take issue with the mainstream rush to defend a Nazi’s right to free speech: they have not endured attacks the way leftists and especially racial minorities have. If people were made aware of American history more thoroughly, I genuinely think the conversation on free speech would be very different.
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