We have finally seen some backbone in the United States regarding free speech. The firing of Jimmy Kimmel mobilized the media, entertainers, an outraged public, and even a number of Republicans to say the administration had gone too far. The government can’t be using its power to go after speech it doesn’t like.
But there were many opportunities long before a rich and famous person’s job was cancelled when the public might have pushed back. Instead, most people hardly noticed.
In March, Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, was whisked off the street in a Boston suburb by masked agents, forced into an unmarked SUV and detained for six weeks. The horrifying incident was captured on video that went viral on social media. Her “crime” was co-authoring an op-ed the Trump administration didn’t like so Secretary of State Marco Rubio used an obscure law to declare her presence as a threat to U.S. foreign policy.
Öztürk didn’t call for violence or an uprising. She wrote about something many either disagree with or are afraid to discuss, in this case campus resolutions on the Gaza war and Tufts University’s dismissive response. She was in the country with legal status as a student, yet because she was not a citizen— even though free speech protections apply to anyone in this country—her plight did not generate the uproar that followed the cancellation of Kimmel. Undoubtedly, her wrongful imprisonment for an oped was just as much a cause for outrage.
To protect the fundamental right to free expression, we must draw a line not only when it impacts those most able to fight, but quite the opposite— when censorship and suppression target those with the least amount of power, resources or prestige. When we ignore those whose speech we don’t like or whose story we don’t know, we effectively acquiesce and let the government erode these rights step-by-agonizing step.
Yes, thank you Ted Cruz and Jon Stewart and Rand Paul and Stephen Colbert for drawing a clear line that the government should not weaponize its vast powers to take away anyone’s free speech rights. Yet, when the government claimed that Öztürk was a threat who had to be immediately detained, when we needed to speak up for her right to free expression in the early days of this administration, we as a society responded meekly. Perhaps many hoped that this was just an assault on a foreign student and the threat to free speech wouldn’t spread to other people, and other issues..
That has proven sorely naive. We must learn from this episode, and remember this pattern when we think of our other foundational rights. Not worried about your due process rights? The people being detained and asked for their papers because they are in a Home Depot parking lot and speak English with an accent, well, I guess let’s not worry until someone rich and famous is detained and has their rights violated.
The government’s undermining of fundamental rights shows no signs of slowing down under this administration. In response, it is essential that we stand up and speak out to ensure the most vulnerable and least empowered segments of society have their rights protected, too. If we continue to wait until they’ve gone after more celebrities and those best equipped to fight back, we’ll have already lost the battle for core rights where it matters most.
