Dear Mr. Coleman,
You’re a well known and respected civil rights and free speech attorney and I wanted to get your opinion on Critical Race Theory, free speech, and Minnesota’s Fifth District.
Personally, I’d argue that corporations, or non-profits are licensed and/or regulated by the government, and are therefore state actors whose actions are subject to the First Amendment, but the Supreme Court in MNN v. Halleck 2019, disagreed, so my opinion is irrelevant.
I’ve also argued in the past that Americans are entitled to equal treatment and protections under the law, but the spread of CRT as a sophisticated legal theory taught “only in law schools” renders that opinion largely irrelevant as well.
For example, CRT protected the rights of Christmas Parade Massacrer, Darrell Brooks, to say on social media he was going to “knokk old white people TF out.” And boy, did he.
Kanye West was recently removed from Twitter, a private platform, for inciting violence by posting the Raelian Symbol in a context that made Elon Musk, African-American, want to punch him.
West, a Black man, had been previously banned from Twitter for mis-tweeting that he was going to go “Deathcon 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”. Although he clarified that he had meant “Defcon 3” meaning “full alert” but it was during the holiday of Sukkot, so observant Jews didn’t see the clarification.
This, of course, was not the first time West has stereotyped groups of people. He wrote a song suggesting that women were hypergamous “gold diggers”. The World Jewish Congress is now demanding Spotify and Apple to remove Kanye’s music on behalf of all Jews, apparently because Jewish women have a long hypergamy stereotype.
Worthy of note a New Hampshire sorority of white and Jewish sisters made national news and were investigated for singing the song in their own home. Apparently, nothing good rhymes with Golddigger.
Kanye also wore a shirt suggesting that “white lives matter,” which is another harmful group stereotype that we learned was hate speech following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The Minneapolis Television Network, where I used to produce and submit a television show called “Men’s Television at Night” had been embroiled in a free speech controversy that resulted in a similar case with two Black activists who said:
The two Black activists, Al Flowers and Booker Hodges, had their public access suspended for inciting violence against Councilman Don Samuels, who is Jamaican.
Al Flowers sued the city, two councilmen, and the public access television station in district court and won. To paraphrase the Judge, “black people are like that in politics.”
No, really, read the judge’s decision before deciding if that’s hyperbole. Source: Flowers v. Minneapolis
The Minneapolis Television Network, then a public non-profit, was later privatized under an attempted intersectional coup with the alleged complicity of some members of the City Council. When the intersectional coup failed, complicit staff were let go and replaced by two free-speech absolutists.
The city then set to cancel the station’s 35 year old contract because the free speech absolutists were the wrong race and gender. The city proceeded to give the contract to a white woman who identifies as Native American.
Al Flowers claimed the city retaliated against him again through the use of excessive force when an arrest warrant was served for his daughter at his property. Many local activists now refer to him as a [Rhymes with Golddigger] who needs to be killed for voting against the Open Society Foundation (1) (2) funded “Defund the Police” initiative.
It is worth mentioning, the Anti Defamation League (ADL) states that reporting that the Open Society Foundation funded “Yes 4 Mpls” 501c3 is Antisemitic hate speech.
While use of the [NWord] as it is called by local media, is perfectly suitable in some contexts in Minneapolis, in others, it is apparently suitable justification for your attempted murder.
Such was the case of Joseph Crowshoe who seemingly attempted to murder an unidentified Asian man after daring him to “say it again!” In some states, the use of this magic word is considered fighting words and Crowshoe was never charged.
CRT Background of the 5th District House
In 2022, former City Councilman Samuels, Jamaican, attempted to get a House seat running against world renowned Antisemitism and Islamaphobia expert, Ilhan Omar.
Ilhan Omar, Somali, is currently serving in the House.
This House seat was formerly held by MN Attorney General Keith Ellison, who was advised by Kimberle’ Williams Crenshaw, the co-creator of CRT. Ellison, in the House at the time of the MTN lawsuit, according to the judge was also not threatened by the words.
It’s unclear if AG Ellison would consider this language a racial slur and death threat to be First Amendment protected speech for Republican challenger Guy Gaskin, white European, had said it against any of these challengers or Ellison’s son, Jeremiah, who now occupies Don Samuel’s City Council Seat.
The State of Free Speech in Minneapolis.
The city seized the public access equipment from the Minneapolis Television Network two weeks to the day before killing George Floyd for not wearing a mask.
That, Mr. Coleman, is the news from Lake Wobegon.
Jewel Eldora
Full Disclosure: I know former City Council President Paul Ostrow and have great respect for All Flowers, both of whom I’ve known for years. Guy Gaskin is a regular reader of this blog who assured me over a world class “Sasha” Rueben Sandwich at Cecil’s that the question is moot because he’d never say the [N Word] as he considers it deeply offensive and would never threaten to kill anyone.
It’s no wonder Republicans never win in Minnesota.
