Fight speech with speech

Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr’s hypocrisy while denying Pastor Terry Jones a permit to protest was staggering (“Dearborn denies permit”). In the same breath, O’Reilly claims his “commitment to the Constitution is unwavering” but Jones will not be allowed to speak in “our streets”. In the United States, the appropriate response to speech we find offensive is more speech. Jones may be protesting “against an imaginary threat” but the city’s assault on free speech is quite real.

[Letter to the Editor - The Detroit News. Submitted 04/21/2011.]