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This type of speech does enormous harm to African American students,
women, gays, and others who are historically regarded as 'other'
or 'inferior' or for some reason undeserving of the protection
that many people take for granted. A short list of the
harm done would include these items:
- Hate speech causes immediate emotional distress for the victims of racist slurs.
- Hate speech frightens others in the same category as the immediate victims. I can tell you from my own experience that all blacks on campus are frightened by these incidents.
- Hate speech silences its immediate victims and others identified with them. It reduces the amount of speech on campus.
- Hate speech legitimizes and reinforces widespread social inequality here on campus and in society at large.
- Hate speech encourages both discrimination against its victims and hate crimes of many kinds. Because it characterizes people as inferior, it makes discrimination and crime less serious - perhaps not very serious at all.
These are consequences that can justify restrictions on the speech that causes them.
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