Koch editorial defended elitist, right-wing position

TO THE EDITOR:

How did I know that there would be an editorial in Tuesday’s edition of The Daily Tar Heel that would be titled something like “Protesters be warned” (Sept. 15)? Another epic fail for the DTH and the Department of Public Safety.

UNC should have recognized that former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo, is a racist xenophobe prior to his speech, and could have assigned a security detail to prevent the disruption, as many law enforcement agencies have done in the past to prevent clashes between rational folks and groups like the KKK or Neo-Nazis, while still protecting undesirable, divisive and unproductive “free speech.”

No. The DPS judged instead that it would rather tolerate hate speech, crackle its Tasers and publicly arrest someone it could only dubiously identify as being part of a socially redeemable protest.

And, of course, the DTH supports them. What is supposed to be an independent voice of a socially progressive, liberal arts campus, instead has become a rightist mouthpiece for the select few middle class bluebloods that clearly populate its staff.

We claim a due and just victory in spite of your threats.

And, by the way, the “Special Anti-Racist Issue” I read at the outset of this semester remains (and I suspect will remain) the best piece of journalism I pull out of a campus newspaper box this academic year.


Jason Palivoda
Building/Environmental Technician
Grounds Services