Rabble Rousers: The American Far Right in the Civil Rights Era

Chapter 7. Fighting for Freedom by Defending the Enemy: Stoner and the Hate Speech Issue

184 It lasted only a minute, but elicited a more impassioned public reaction than any other political broadcast aired in the South during the early 1970s. During the first days of August 1972, television audiences across Georgia witnessed the sight of a man in dark suit and bow tie sitting at a desk with a large Confederate battle flag hanging behind him and a smaller version folded in the front pocket of his jacket. The heavy-lidded eyes that stared intently into the camera lens lent him a reptilian appearance and his heavily accented voice was slow and deliberate. “I am J. B. Stoner,” he announced. “I am the only candidate for U.S.senator who is for the white people.I am the only candidate who is against integration. All of the other candidates are race mixers to one degree or another.” Stoner identified the policies of moderate incumbent, Senator David H. Gambrell, as a particular threat to the racial purity of white voters. Then the aspirant for public office uttered the words that precipitated a political shockwave. “The main reason why niggers want integration is because the niggers want our white women. I am for law and order with the knowledge that you cannot have law and order and niggers too. Vote white.” The commercial was the centerpiece of a radically racist campaign by Stoner. His manifesto pledged that if elected he would “stop race mixing insanity” through a series of measures, including cutting off funds for busing and other 7. Fighting for Freedom by Defending the Enemy Stoner and the Hate Speech Issue Fighting for Freedom 185 federal initiatives to facilitate school desegregation, restricting the access of “lazy drunken Blacks” to public housing and welfare, and campaigning for the repeal of civil rights legislation.Stoner also committed himself to secure a federal law for the forcible repatriation of blacks to Africa. Throughout his political career, Stoner demonstrated a flair for the in- flammatory rhetoric that aroused such controversy during his senatorial campaign.In the aftermath of the genocide committed during World War II, explicitly racist ideology, already on the wane, lost much of its intellectual and cultural legitimacy in the United States. Segregationist leaders increasingly refrained from defending Jim Crow in terms of white supremacy and black inferiority, emphasizing instead the more racially neutral language of states’rights.Stoner,by contrast,reveled in a more atavistic rhetoric that denied the essential humanity of African Americans and advocated the use of extralegal violence to enforce white hegemony.“The nigger is not a human being,”he exclaimed at a white supremacist rally in 1965.“He is somewhere between the white man and the ape.We don’t believe in tolerance.We don’t believe in getting along with our enemy, and the nigger is our enemy.” Stoner’s campaign commercial rhetoric posed for liberals the same paradox as that of other demagogues such as John Kasper and John Crommelin. To protect the constitutional freedoms of all citizens, was it necessary to defend the uncensored speech of those who used their public platforms to promote prejudice and inequality? Some concluded that it was. No matter how abhorrent the statements made by Stoner, in their opinion, he had as much right as any other citizen to freedom of speech under the First Amendment.The American Civil Liberties Union (aclu), whose libertarian philosophy had led it to defend the constitutional rights of white racists throughout the civil rights struggle, issued a statement supporting Stoner’s right to unrestricted freedom of speech. However,other civil rights activists reacted with indignation to the racebaiting language used in the commercial.Access to television and radio was of crucial strategic importance to Stoner.In contrast to mainstream political and civic leaders, he possessed limited resources and relied on the publicity provided by media coverage to reach out to the electorate. Civil rights organizations understood that restricting his access to the airwaves therefore promised to curtail his campaign. Accordingly, black and Jewish civil rights activists launched a collective campaign to silence Stoner.The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (naacp) and the AntiDefamation League of B’nai B’rith (adl) filed a joint complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (fcc).According to the signatories, 186 Chapter Seven Stoner’s public address was not only offensive, but also intended to incite violence against African Americans. In the interests of public decency...