Civil Rights Movement Is a Reminder That Free Speech Is There to Protect the Weak

http://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/civil-rights-movement-reminder-free-speech-there-protect-weak
Publisher:  American Civil Liberties Union
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21012

The importance of First Amendment rights is examined, and even while those rights do protect actions of the powerful, the author argues that it is ultimately the poor and powerless who beneffit from it's protection.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt: We at the ACLU are often criticized for our unyielding defense of free speech rights. Even our closest allies complain when we defend the free speech rights of Klansmen and assorted other racists, misogynists, online haters, fake news creators, and other toxic speakers. In particular, we hear that such defenses of free speech rights serve not to protect the weak but to protect the powerful in their attacks on the vulnerable.