To the editor:
Item editor Thor Jourgensen recently published a blatantly-racist letter to the editor written by a Swampscott resident (Hersh Goldman, Item, April 29) this past week. Because of this, we have to wonder why itemlive.com and its owner, Essex Media Group, are willingly allowing racist material to be promoted through their platform.
“We cannot be in the business of editing people’s right to express themselves,” wrote Jourgensen — the editor whose job it is to actually edit people’s expressions.
There has been an increased mangling in understanding of the First Amendment over the past decade and Jourgensen is showing he is also a victim of that.
The First Amendment grants citizens, as well as the press, the right to a freedom from government intrusion on their speech. Itemlive.com is not the government. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are not the government. These platforms are under no obligation to publish everything they receive.
The writer of the racist letter published could very well walk down the street reciting his ignorant diatribe. He could make T-shirts with his views on them. He could post it on 8kun.
If someone tells him to shut up, or that he’s wrong, or that they won’t publish his racist rant, or if an editor passes on publishing his letter, his rights won’t have been infringed upon.
Making editorial decisions to not promote racist views is the bare minimum a news outlet can do if it wants to be taken seriously.
To quote Angela Davis: “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.”
Aaron Berdofe
Swampscott Racial Justice Action Group
