Speaking Out Against Banning Expression

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"A student whose protected expression is stifled suffers an injury that cannot be undone."
- U.S. 3rd Circuit Court

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."
- George Washington

"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."
- U.S. Supreme Court

"One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Speech codes are disfavored under the First Amendment because of their tendency to silence or interfere with protected speech."
- U.S. 3rd Circuit Court

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. It is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime..."
- Justice Potter Stewart

"In our system, undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression."
- U.S. Supreme Court

"We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The Supreme Court has held time and again, both within and outside of the school context, that the mere fact that someone might take offense at the content of speech is not sufficient justification for prohibiting it."
- U.S. 3rd Circuit Court

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."
- John F. Kennedy

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it."
- Mark Twain

"The mere fact that expressive activity causes hurt feelings, offense, or resentment does not render the expression unprotected."
- U.S. Supreme Court

May God open the eyes of these administrators to the wisdom of our Founders and the majesty of our system of guaranteed rights; turn them away from their path of censorship of expression, denigration of a cultural heritage and marginalization of a group; and restore to our schools the philosophy that they are to be places of learning, places to celebrate our freedoms as well as understand the responsibilities that come with them and places to prepare our children for the responsibility of protecting our freedoms in the courtroom, at the ballot box and, if need be, at the battlefield.