Commencement speakers and visiting lecturers are feeling the heat from the free speech debates raging on college campuses across the country. Both conservative and liberal speakers feel caught in the cross-hairs, though columnist Steven Thrasher from The Guardian argues that those most likely to experience real threats are the speakers who are neither white nor male.
“There’s a much higher price being paid from people who are not white men just to be able to speak in the first place,” Thrasher told WNYC host Jami Floyd.
…”A study commissioned by The Guardian last year showed that women and people of color receive the vast majority of violent threats in response to speaking out. After analyzing 70 million comments on articles published by The Guardian since 2006, the report shows that “of the 10 most abused writers, eight are women, and the two men are black.”
One of those writers is Steven Thrasher, a columnist for The Guardian whose most recent piece discusses free speech and the lack of access experienced by queer and trans people, women, and people of color. More here.