A provocative anthology on questions of hate speech and speech regulation designed to protect minorities
At the University of Pennsylvania, a student is reprimanded for calling a group of African-American students water buffalo. Several prominent American law schools now request that professors abstain from discussing the legal aspects of rape for fear of offending students. As debates over multiculturalism and political correctness crisscross the land, no single issue has been more of a flash point in the ongoing culture wars than hate speech codes, which seek to restrict bigoted or offensive speech and punish those who engage in it. In this provocative anthology, a range of prominent voices argue that hate speech restrictions are not only dangerous, but counterproductive. The lessons of history indicate that speech regulation designed to protect minorities is destined to be used against them. Acknowledging the legitimacy of the concerns that prompt speech codes and combining support for civil liberties with an acute concern for civil tights issues, Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex demonstrates that it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw the line between unprotected insults and protected ideas. Decrying such speech regulation as overly concerned with the symbols of racism rather than its realities, Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex offers a balanced and well-reasoned perspective on one of the most controversial issues of our time.

About the Author
Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Author)
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is the author of twelve books, including several award-winning works of literary criticism as well as the memoir Colored People; The Future of the Race, co-authored with Cornel West; Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man; and Tradition and the Black Atlantic. Gates has hosted ten PBS television specials, including Looking for Lincoln and the two part series, African American Lives, upon which his book In Search of Our Roots was based. He is winner of the 2009 Ralph Lowell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Television and the 2010 NAACP Image Award for Non-Fiction.
Anthony P. Griffin (Author)
Anthony P. Griffin was General Counsel for the NAACP and was removed in 1993 for his representation in a first amendment case of a Grand Dragon of the Texas Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Donald E. Lively (Author)
Donald E. Lively is a Professor of Law at the University of Toledo.
Nadine Strossen (Author)
Nadine Strossen is Professor Emerita at New York Law School and past national President of the American Civil Liberties Union (1991-2008). She is a Senior Fellow with FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) and an internationally acclaimed free speech scholar, activist, speaker, and media commentator. She is the author of many books, including Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) and Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.


Reviews
"A powerful collection of essays challenging the advocates of curbing speech in order to promote equality. Most impressively, these writers make their case not through name-calling, but by taking them seriously, and dissecting, opposing arguments and acknowledging complexities, and by invoking informed common sense in bracing prose." -- Gerald Gunther,author of The Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge
"A thoughtful book that offers significant insights on the potential perils of imposing restraints in the traditional First Amendment rights." -- A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.



Book Information
ISBN 9780814730706
Author Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Format Hardback
Page Count 310
Imprint New York University Press
Publisher New York University Press
Weight(grams) 540g