To The Editor:
David Shor was a data scientist working for a company called Civis Analytics. In May 2020, after George Floyd’s murder, he sent out a tweet about a study that had been done showing that nonviolent demonstrations were more effective than riots at moving public opinion and at motivating voters. The next day, after a lot of pushback from Black Lives Matter supporters, he apologized for the tweet. Two weeks later he was fired. Mr. Shor was a self-professed socialist and had worked on the 2012 Obama reelection campaign.
We are setting a dangerous precedent when we begin to condone acts of vandalism that are aimed at suppressing one’s right to free speech and expression. Disallowing our fellow citizens to exercise their constitutional right to free speech will do nothing to change hearts and minds. In fact, it has the opposite effect -- just look at how the president’s supporters have dug their heels in and gotten more determined than ever to keep him in power.
We can remove statues and symbols; cancel speeches and words we think are offensive; support candidates who profess to be civil rights champions. But have any of those actions historically generated racial equality?
This statement was made by Dr. Martin Luther King over 50 years ago. It could have been made yesterday -- what has really changed?
“... today, civil rights is a dominating issue in every state, crowding the pages of the press and the daily conversation of white Americans. This was a victory that had to precede all other gains. But in spite of a decade of significant progress, the problem is far from solved. The deep rumbling of discontent in our cities is indicative of the fact that the plant of freedom has grown only a bud and not yet a flower.
“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”
Fayston
