Ever since the events of one week ago when groups of hate-filled people clashed in Charlottesville, Virginia – culminating in 20 year old James Alex Fields, Jr. driving his car into a crowd and killing 32 year old Heather Heyer – it seems many across the country have lost their minds. And today’s events in Boston not only prove that, but it also illustrates a sad reality– the left is controlling the narrative on the issue of race.
According to an organization known as the “Boston Free Speech Coalition”, their intent in holding a “Free Speech Rally” was that it be “strictly about free speech”. The group apparently obtained the proper permit to assemble in the nation’s oldest park known as the “Boston Commons”. (Side Note: Is it really “free speech” when a person must obtain a permit? Anyhow, I digress.) With conflicting reports on who was going to speak and what the intentions were of those that were planning on assembling for the rally, I am not going to pretend to know those specifics myself. But there are aspects of how today’s events in Boston played out that should trouble every American who values Liberty.
First, like it or not, the organizers for the Free Speech Rally were attempting to legally and – from everything I saw in the reporting – peacefully assemble in the Boston Commons. Yet, they were literally prevented from doing so by those that gathered as part of a counterprotest. Reports ranged from 15,000 to 40,000 people gathered in opposition to the rally.
Second, violence is apparently acceptable to a faction of people who are not fans of free speech. According to one report, “Black-clad counterprotesters also grabbed an American flag out of an elderly woman’s hands, and she stumbled and fell to the ground.” I saw video of this incident. It was despicable.
Another incident had a man with a Trump hat and a banner being chased by angry counterprotesters. He was helped to safety by other counterprotesters who were – thankfully – not so keen on violence themselves.
O nce it was clear that the rally was going to be a no-go, many counterprotesters turned their anger on the police. Resulting in this Tweet from the Boston Police Department: 
Third, it is clear that hate-filled counterprotesters and a horribly biased media are controlling the narrative on the events from last Saturday to the present time. Take this statement from an article in the USA Today:
“By their sheer numbers, thousands of anti-racist protesters marching through downtown Boston on Saturday effectively prevented conservative activists from mounting a “Free Speech Rally” in the aftermath of deadly clashes last week in Virginia.” (Emphasis Added)
Did you catch the narrative here? The counterprotesters are labeled “anti-racist”. Those who planned on assembling for the Free Speech Rally are labeled “conservative activists”.
When the statement is considered in context, does this then mean that “conservative activists” are also racist? After all, the counterprotesters were the “anti-racist protesters”. That’s certainly how it comes across to me.
It is astonishing to see how many Americans are feeding into the false-narrative being portrayed on this issue just in the last week. It seems that leftist nut-jobs have a stranglehold on much of the media. And those folks who seemingly have no common sense are taking the bait… hook, line, and sinker.
For North Dakotans, we’ve seen this before with the protests to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). While there were certainly sincere people that peacefully opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline, there was also the group we came to know as “the agitators”. These folks who had no problem with violence and they did all they could to create a false-narrative in an attempt to further their own radical agenda.
The reality is that the KKK and Nazi’s – or whatever other white supremacist organizations you want to name – do not equate to conservatism anymore than groups like Antifa or ISIS do.
And when you think about the events that played out earlier today, repeat this statement from the USA Today in your mind,“…effectively prevented conservative activists from mounting a ‘Free Speech Rally'”. Repeat it over and over… and let that sink in for a while. Americans would do well to consider the words of Judge Andrew Napolitano– written just two days ago:
“What about hate speech? The remedy for it is not to silence or censor it, because we need to know from whence it comes. The remedy is more speech— speech to challenge the hatred, speech to educate the haters, speech to expose their moral vacuity. More speech will create an atmosphere antithetical to hatred, and it will reinforce the right of every individual to pursue happiness, which is the American promise.” (Emphasis Added)
What the organizers of the Free Speech Rally in Boston had in mind, we do not know. With leftist agitators at work, they were prevented from exercising their First Amendment right. What we do know is that we have a false-narrative being propagated by many in the mainstream media. A false-narrative that is inaccurate, divisive, and does nothing to improve the challenges they pretend to want to solve.
The fact is that the left is hurting and they’re lashing out. They’ve been unable to logically win the arguments for their radical socialist agenda in the minds of too many Americans. Their go-to tactic now seems to be doing all they can to lump their opposition together under the banner of racism.
So, what is our job? It is what Judge Napolitano suggests… more speech. And when necessary, we must call them out for what they are… dishonest, misleading, and sometimes even agitating thugs.
Sources:
1. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/free-speech-rally-fizzles-as-counterprotesters-swarm-boston/ar-AAqkNU1?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp 2. http://video.foxnews.com/v/5545752817001/?#sp=show-clips
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/us/demonstration-race-free-speech-boston-charlottesville.html
4. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-alex-fields-new-charges-charlottesville-car-attack/
5. http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2017/08/urine_boston_police_free_speech.html
6. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/08/17/judge-andrew-napolitano-why-hate-speech-is-always-protected.html
