An Introduction to Civil Discourse

Several years ago, an organized group came to my college campus quad, to exercise their First Amendment right to say horrendous and hateful things with bullhorns about the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims, women, gays persons, and people of Jewish descent. After teaching a Business Law class that morning, I crossed campus to see what the gathering and noise was about. The group was large and loud. Students stood in a large group encircling the visiting speakers.

Several of the students from my class who were Muslim stood listening to the hateful rhetoric. I attempted to get them to somehow signal their disagreement with the speaker. Did they know a chant or song - even in Arabic - that we could all say at the same time? I asked them to sit with me with my back to the speakers to show our disagreement. Most stood with their mouth agape struggling with the fact that no one was stopping the hateful speech. American students struggled as well.

Campus police had already detained one student for spitting on the speakers. Forced to leave to teach my next class, I felt useless and confused. Campuses around the country were struggling with student protests against conservative voices on campus. The speakers were (allegedly) a Christian group and they videoed the entire time they spent on our campus.

At IVC, we began to call the day the organized group came, our First Amendment event. We held open forums and discussed hate speech. As faculty we discussed how to help student better face disagreeable dialogue with an equally protected response. Most of the discussion seemed to end once someone said the speakers had a protected right to speak. I began to lecture at open forums and in the classroom and explain that the First Amendment protects the response to that hateful speech as well.

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, then Dean of University of California, at Irvine law school, and other experts came to our community college campus to teach us about the first amendment. I listened and learned. I was asked to speak on Free Speech at the Fall 2017 California/Nevada regional meeting of Phi Theta Kappa  – the honors society – helping students understand protected speech. I was astonished in speaking to students that they knew very little of the rights afforded them under the US Constitution’s First Amendment. 

I began to understand part of the puzzle – students did not know how to respond to ideas and words that were deeply hurtful and offensive. I also appreciated that by not participating they were muted and silenced.    

America is polarized. #BlackLivesMatter has been brewing for so long. Most Americans no longer know how to engage in discourse. Peaceful or unpeaceful protests are not a cause for concern. What is concerning is the failure to listen by both sides. LISTENING is a crucial part of civil dialogue. Failure to listen to opposing views is peaking on all sides of America’s polarization. Protests & counter protests, are symptoms of a complicated and layered problematic USA. Listening leads to understanding. There is no quick and easy solution and that makes America uncomfortable.

For my own part, I am applying for a National Endowment of the Humanities grant. The grant will fund the development of an Introduction to Civil Discourse course and related forums and activities on campus to help us all learn how to dialogue effectively. Effective dialogue and discourse will mean listening and understanding concepts that are offensive and responding with evidence-based arguments. Looking forward to digging deep on civil discourse.