In The Times on Thursday’s page 2A, a Today in History item read “In 1992, the U. S. Supreme Court, ruled unanimously that ‘hate crime laws’ that banned cross burnings and similar expressions of racial bias violated free speech rights.”

This was a move away from the U. S. Constitution’s First Amendment guaranteeing free speech.

I do not possess all the academic achievements of those nine justices, but I do have a degree beyond college. For me, speech is words strung together. Cross-burning is an act historically casting fear and intimidation in the minds of those to whom it is directed.

Did our Forefathers mean speech, did they mean actions, or did they mean both? Up until 1992, speech meant words. Even speech has some limits. I can be sued for slander and libel if I broadcast something not true about another person.

Their ruling was simply another step in weakening our Constitution.

George C. Kaulbach
Cornelia

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