Ben Shapiro & The Little Rock Nine

Over 10 years ago I purchased and read the book "Warriors Don't Cry" by Melba Pattillo Beals.  Ms. Beals was one of the the nine students who volunteered to be the first African American students to attend the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.  As I read her book, I was shocked at just how much danger she and her students were in, how they nearly lost their lives for the simple right to receive an equal educational opportunity.  To simply go to school and learn.  I was horrified as I read how the students had to face down mobs who wanted to lynch them, and how in the end President Eisenhower was forced to send in the 101st Airborne Division to once again, fight Fascism.  This time, instead of battling the Fascists on the beaches of Normandy, they were fighting them in the very heartland of America.  When I finished reading this book, I said to myself "Thank God those days in our country are long gone."  Boy was I wrong.  


Less than one year ago, I learned on the News that Conservative Jewish activist Ben Shapiro would be speaking at the University of Berkeley.  This was a University that I once admired.  Being a central part of the 1960's counterculture movement that I idolized, I actually thought that Berkeley, the University that founded the Free Speech movement, represented a beacon of hope, a place where Freedom of Thought would outshine the darkness of Fascism.  Now I see that the opposite is true.  When I watched the footage of Ben Shapiro speaking I was stunned to sea heavily armed National Guard troops on patrol.  I was shocked to learn that the City of Berkeley had to spend almost $600,000 just to ensure a man's right to speak in peace at the very university that once sounded the trumpet for Free Speech.  
When did this happen?  When did the very people who once vowed to fight Fascism become the very thing that they once sought to fight?  When did 2017 Berkeley become 1957 Little Rock?  The time has come for us to accept the truth.  Freedom of Speech is under a grave threat here in the United States.  Schools and Universities are no longer embracing Freedom of Thought.  Too many on the Left are becoming increasingly radical, and they are becoming the very thing that the claim to be trying to fight.  In their desire to rid the world of Fascism, too many on the Left are in truth becoming the very thing that the 101st Airborne fought in 1944 Normandy, and again in 1957 Little Rock.  For the sake of those courageous soldiers who faced down the Fascists on the beaches of Normandy & on the Streets of Little Rock, we must stand with Ben Shapiro.

Sources

Beals, Melba Pattillo.  Warriors Don't Cry.  New York: Simon Pulse, 1995.

"Ben Shapiro Speaks at UC Berkeley amid Protests."  YouTube Video: 4:35.  Published by  Fox News on September 15, 2017.  Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocQEehWcwBc. 

Panzar, Javier, Benjamin Oreskes, & Teresea Watanabe.  "Unprecedented Measures at Berkeley for Conservative Writer's Speech."  Los Angeles Times.  September 14, 2017.  Accessed from  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-berkeley-protests-far-right-shapiro-20170914-htmlstory.html

Thanawala, Suhin.  "Multiple Arrests at Ben Shapiro Berkeley Protests."  USA Today.  September 15, 2017.  Accessed from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/09/15/ben-shapiro-berkeley-protest-arrests/669071001/


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamas Invasion of Israel

Image
The brutal invasion of Israel by Hamas caught the entire world by surprise.  Over the last few years Israel has become accustomed to turning back rocket attacks and occasional cross-border raids by Hamas terrorists, but nobody anticipated this brutal full-out invasion.  Already being dubbed as "Israel's 9/11," militants stormed across the Gaza border and attacked towns across southern Israel.  Already over 900 Israelis are confirmed dead, thousands more wounded, and over 100 hostages, including women & children, have been taken back to Gaza ( Video Footage of Massacres ).   Israeli Woman Taken Hostage by Hamas The deadliest massacre so far took place at the Nova Music Festival in the Negev Desert close to Urim, a Jewish community that lives close to the Gaza Strip.  At 6am on Oct. 7th, the attack on the festival began as rockets rained down and Hamas gunmen appeared and opened fire.  As of now over 260 Israelis are confirmed dead from this attack alone with a number o
Read more

Jihadists World-Wide Celebrate Massacres in Israel

Image
The Plague of Jihad is all over the world.  The past few days has witnessed Israel suffer the most horrific attack that it has endured since the October War of 1973, yet for all of the senseless death, for all of the footage that we see of Hamas militants murdering Israelis in cold blood, many in the world are in fact celebrating this atrocity.   Hamas Supporters in Canada In Iran, crowds of Hamas supporters took to the streets to celebrate the slaughter of Israelis by Hamas while their government leaders lavished praise on the terrorists ( Link to Article ).  In the nation of Turkey, Hamas supporters crowded the streets of Istanbul chanting "Allahu Akbar" & "Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahud" ( Link to Video ).  "Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud, jaish Muhammad soufa ya'oud" is the full version of the chant.  It translates to "Khaybar Khaybar or Jews, the Army of Muhammad will return."  For those unfamiliar with the context of this chant, Khaybar was the
Read more

Hamas and Their Child Soldier Training Camps

Image
For years the world has known that Hamas deliberately targets children for indoctrination and training to carry out terrorist missions.  They have camps throughout Gaza and other areas of the Middle East where children are taught to hate, & trained to kill.  These camps are often referred to as "Summer Youth Camps."  The titles sound harmless enough, but unlike the summer youth camps in the U.S. and other Western nations where children play games, do crafts, and in general, have fun, the Hamas "Summer Youth Camps" are nothing like this.  They're training camps, where children are trained in weapons handling, military drills, and are indoctrinated to "hate the Infidel," particularly Jews.   Link to Video On videos that have circulated across the online world, these children have openly confessed that they have come here for the purpose of learning to fight.  One such video surfaced on MEMRI with a child openly stating "We did not come here to e
Read more