My wife is from England. She had many concerns about coming to the United States, including police officers shooting unarmed citizens and widespread racism.
My response? Those concerns are real in parts of America, but not in Durango, never in Durango. Durango is a safe, tolerant town. She did not need to worry.
However, now with the police shooting an unarmed man on Highway 550 and Fort Lewis College sanctioning a hate group, I am questioning my beliefs about Durango. I am hoping the debate on the shooting has just begun. But the hate group has, for now, won.
Initially, students at FLC had the moral courage to stand up to Turning Point USA. Then, embarrassingly, those same students withered under pressure, falsely claiming that sanctioning Turning Point USA was an issue of free speech. Free speech, really? Another student, David Duke, exercised his right to free speech at Louisiana State University. He stood on a box spewing the same hatred, almost word for word, as Charlie Kirk. However, there is a key difference: to my knowledge, no university ever sanctioned him or his group.
Later, at another time and location, his group’s right to free speech was challenged. I supported the ACLU when they went to court to stand up for his group’s right to free speech. You can support and defend free speech, but you should never officially sanction hate speech.
The questions we must now ask ourselves: Who are we Durango? Who do we want to be?
Paul Davis
Durango
