June 16, 2004
Angst in Arizona—
Caused By VDARE.com?
Via the
Volokh Conspiracy (which asks, in effect, why, if
American teachers can't be disciplined for
anti-American activity, they can be disciplined for
being offensive to Mexicans). I learn that Arizona
teacher
Walter A. Kehowski is in hot water with the
EEOC for spreading inappropriate opinions.
I was further surprised to learn
that some of the inappropriate opinions were—mine!
According to the Arizona
Republic
“Walter Kehowski, a White
faculty member at Glendale Community College, in October
2003 e-mailed to all district employees several Internet
links that contained remarks considered disparaging to
Hispanics. Kehowski posted hundreds of Internet links
relating to ‘racial hatred, intimidation and supremacy,’
with titles including
"Mexicans Think U.S. Belongs to Them!" and
"Mexican Double Standard," said the EEOC in a letter
of determination, which spells out the
findings of investigators.”
“The links also included remarks offensive to women and
religion, the report said: "'Why
Islam Hates Democracy,' 'Why
White (and other) Women Can't Jump
a Facelift for Title IX' and
'Multiracial [sic] chickens come home - but not
to roost.'
”
“Kehowski could not be reached for comment, but he has
previously said that he sent out the messages because he
was upset over a recent Dia de la Raza celebration at
which he felt students expressed racist attitudes toward
non-Latinos by promoting separatism.” [College,
Latinos urged to talk | EEOC responds to complaint
about teacher Yvonne Wingett The Arizona Republic
May. 21, 2004]
This goes back to October 2003,
when Kehowski apparently emailed a bunch of links from
his website to colleagues at the community college.
Immediately there were
calls for him to be fired, and when it was pointed
out that he was protected by the First Amendment, an
Arizona State legislator, Steve Gallardo,
called for a law to ban college computers from being
used to material "considered offensive" to
minorities. Gallardo was apparently under the impression
that the First Amendment doesn't cover "hate." (As Tom
Lehrer said,
"I hate people like that.")
How offensive were these links?
Well, since I don't have the original email, I'll just
comment on the ones mentioned in the Republic
story.
From Vdare.com we have Sam
Francis's article
Multiracialist Chickens Come Home—But Not To Roost
which simply says that the ideology of mass
immigration is what has led to
all these Muslims coming to America.
There's also my own article,
"Mexican Double Standard,"
about the Mexican National Anthem and its bloodthirsty
threats toward any foreigner who should dare to invade
the borders of their realm, versus the attitude of most
Mexicans that illegal immigration to the United States
is a civil right.
But at
least those come from an
officially designated "hate site," namely us.
"Mexicans Think U.S. Belongs to Them!" is from
NewsMax.com. And it’s merely a wire service story from
United Press International, with a less boring title
added.
And what
the Arizona Republic story calls 'Why
White (and other) Women Can't Jump
a Facelift for Title IX' is actually two stories
('Why
White (and other) Women Can't Jump” and “A
Facelift for Title IX')—articles about feminist
affirmative action in sports, from the Weekly
Standard, of all places.
You call
that hate? They must be very sensitive in Arizona.
The next
question is: "Why is this literally a 'federal
case?'"—with the EEOC intervening.
Well,
Hispanic students complained that the historical and
political lessons contained in the emails constituted
"national origins harassment."
The EEOC
takes the line that if anyone says anything which is
considered offensive, and their employer doesn't punish
them, then the employer is violating
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This
means that everyone in America with a job must mind
their
multicultural manners or risk unemployment. (This
does not apply to anyone who says something insulting
about the white majority; the
Dia de la Raza celebration mentioned above takes
place on what you probably think of as
Columbus Day, and is usually given over to bashing
the historical American nation.)
This is
obviously incompatible with the
First Amendment. But it's also incompatible with the
idea that state employers are not allowed to
discriminate on the basis of political affiliation.
The
beliefs that Mr. Kehowski has on his web page are mostly
to do with political conservatism, which means mostly
right-wing Republicanism.
And
discrimination on
that basis is illegal too.
For now.
