Restraining the Heartless: Racist Speech and Minority Rights

Abstract

This article examines the circumstances of contemporary racist expression in the United States. It discusses various locales for racist speech and the impact of such speech on individuals. In the second section, the article addresses American jurisprudence on hate speech, in particular, the limits on regulation posed by marchers, by hate speech codes and by cross burning. The final section of the article addresses comparative approaches to dealing with racist speech and compares the US approach with that taken by several European countries.

Keywords: First Amendment, Race, Hate Speech, Constitutional Law, Racist Speech, Racism, Injury, Harm