To the editors:

As members of the Harvard community and deep believers in the rights of all Americans, we were enraged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) College Freedom Tour last Monday night (News, “Flynt Bashes Feminists, Lauds ACLU in Speech,” Sept. 30). Instead of promoting the importance of civil liberties, the event became a race rally, aimed at “people of color,” in the words of the ACLU panelists, and not at Americans as a united people. The flaws of the evening were exemplified by the premature removal of civil liberties advocate Larry Flynt to make way for DJ Kuttin Kandi, an Asian woman, and dead prez, a black rap group. Imagine the outrage if Jesse Jackson was forced aside so that Eminem could perform.

Certainly racism continues to be a pervasive problem in America and throughout the world, but the ACLU’s mission encompasses far more. According to aclu.org, the ACLU works to “preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” In addition to defending the rights of gays, blacks and women, the ACLU also defends groups with bigoted views, such as the Ku Klux Klan and Neo-Nazis.

What we would have rather seen, as young people in the post-Sept. 11 world is an open dialogue about the current threats to our freedoms, and the proactive steps we can take to preserve those freedoms. In the end, as Americans, we are all one people, and protecting the rights of people of color is no more important than ensuring the rights of racists and bigots.

Daniel J. Foti ’06

Andrew L. Kalloch ’06

Edward M. Likovich ’06

Sept. 30, 2003