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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, January 17, 2002

Highlight on civil rights

 •  Martin Luther King Jr. Day events

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hate speech targeted at groups or individuals should not be protected by the First Amendment because the words are intended to hurt people, even by provoking violence.

That was the consensus among speakers at a forum held last night at the East-West Center. About 100 people attended the forum, "Hate Language & Its Consequences," which was among a series of events leading to Monday's official observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Daphne Barbee-Wooten, a civil rights attorney on the panel, said that while the Constitution's First Amendment guarantees free speech, the protection isn't absolute and there are laws against slander and other harmful speech.

Barbee-Wooten said laws must be created to punish those who use words to hurt people or incite violence. She pointed to Web sites that spew hatred toward racial minorities, religious groups or individuals such as doctors who perform abortions.

"Speech is communicating to another person. And to communicate hate, from hate can come action," she said. "If you are going to go around and telling people, 'You can kill gay people and you can kill black people,' why is this protected by the First Amendment?... You have to realize the consequences."

Professor Chris Iijima of the University of Hawai'i's Richardson School of Law agreed and said supporters of laws against hate speech are often criticized by people who cite the Constitution as protection.

"We ban false advertising on the basis that we value the protection of consumers over the unfettered marketplace," Iijima said. "Yet when some of us wish to protect vulnerable members of society, some would have us believe that we are creating unprecedented incursions into First Amendment free speech protection."

Ku'umealoha Gomes, director of the UH Kua'ana Student Services, said gay people are constant targets of hate speech. Gomes, who is gay, said more needs to be done to protect victims of hate speech.

"It is difficult to try and embrace the law that seems to protect the majority at the expense of the minority," Gomes said.

Forum moderator Bill Hoshijo reminded the audience to follow the ideals of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and help people who may not be able to fight for themselves and their civil rights.

"Regardless of where you stand on the civil liberties debate, we have an obligation to stand up and condemn hate speech," said Hoshijo, executive director of the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission.

"We have to recognize that hate speech has the effect of silencing and excluding, and recognize that there is a very human cost attached to hate speech."