I am a bit concerned and confused about the proposed response to the hateful emails that zeroed in on Penny Ricketts, the Pierce Brothers and Karen “Rudy” Renaud.
I along with many others demonstrated on the Town Common our revulsion at the racist depiction of Penny Ricketts.
At the outset, let’s note that the vast majority of Greenfield citizens find this speech ignorant, hurtful and reprehensible! That said, I am unaware of any legislation or law that makes such deplorable speech a crime. I think the First Amendment fairly well protects us, and allows us, to make fools, even hateful fools, of ourselves.
But in the Aug. 6 Recorder editorial “What about the email investigation?” the editorial, speaking of perpetrators of the emails says, “They deserve … to be thrown under the disinfecting light of public scrutiny. These are crimes and should be handled and investigated as such.”
I agree with the editorial board’s first sentence but the second — not so much. There appears to be no such law forbidding or criminalizing hate speech. If the perpetrator or perpetrators could be identified, civil action could possibly be taken by the victim or victims.
Most of the rest of the editorial is not too bad, though invoking the Greenfield Police Department, District Attorney David Sullivan and the FBI seems a bit much.
TOM TOLG
Greenfield