I just read last week’s edition of The Beacon and saw that the [deputy] editor for the lifestyle section has resigned over the cartoons printed in the paper. I do not know her but I applaud her bold stance and I’m upset that she feels the need to resign.,Dear Editor,

I just read last week’s edition of The Beacon and saw that the [deputy] editor for the lifestyle section has resigned over the cartoons printed in the paper. I do not know her but I applaud her bold stance and I’m upset that she feels the need to resign.

As a minority here at Emerson, I’m black, I take issue with the Muslims who slammed The Beacon for reporting the news from around the world and I take issue with those Muslims in America who have protested the printing of the cartoons.

In this country, cross burning, the act of setting ablaze a fire a lot of times in people’s own front yards, has been protected by the first amendment. Though we have come a long way as a nation to the point that it is illegal to burn a cross in the front yard of a family, the act of burning the cross is still protected and used a lot in common areas. Throughout the many years of cross burning, blacks have never attacked the KKK’s right to free speech.

Furthermore, where are the Christians who have one of their most holy and recognized symbols engulfed in flames and reduced to ashes? They have not taken to the streets, breaking windows and calling death to America.

A cartoon was printed. Yes it was offensive, yes it was wrong, but it was news and the mission of the paper is to report on that news. Many groups, many minorities have been displayed horrifically by newspaper editorials throughout the past, but until you look into the fire of a burning cross 10 yards away from you, you do not understand the great lengths that free speech can go.

As a black man, as an American, I will always support the first amendment.

-Jonathan Smith

Senior

Film Major