ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on racism. It draws on the experience of women and gays as victims of hate speech where they operate as instructive analogues. The chapter demonstrates that much of the argument for protecting racist speech is based on the distinction that many civil libertarians draw between direct, face-to-face racial insults, which they think deserve first amendment protection, and all other fighting words, which they find unprotected by the first amendment. It explores whether our Constitution already commits us to some regulation of racist speech. The chapter considers the debate over regulation of racial harassment on university campus. It explores the nature of the injury inflicted by racist hate speech and examines the unstated assumptions that lie at the core of first amendment theory. The chapter expresses that civil libertarians must examine not just the substance of our position on racist speech but also the ways in which we enter the debate.
