The far-right commentator said the former first lady and other supporters of affirmative action lacked the "brain processing power" to succeed on their own.
“Arrest this person, they said something I don’t like!”
Dude’s a certified sexist and racist douche and deserves to be ridiculed for what he says, but I’ll defend freedom of speech. Doesn’t mean he has freedom of consequence, but he can say whatever he wants.
Sadly, it is not. Hate speech is just speech in America, protected by the first amendment like any other form of speech.
Furthermore, there are zero laws that outlaw racism, because the people writing the laws have historically been the racists. They aren't going to outlaw their own words.
As racist and stupid this statement is, it's not reason enough for prison. Putting people in prison for saying something mean or dumb is the exact kind of thing the GOP would want to be able to do to anyone they deem "too woke". Let's not lower ourselves to their way of thinking.
Then we need to educate people better. Once you hit the point where the hegemony decides idiots are more useful to their goals it begins to breakdown. The People are left stupid and vulnerable and they begin to cling to any mouthpiece that is loud enough. A vicious cycle initiates where hatred and fear are the only offspring. If we aren't going to take education seriously we need to watch what statements people are gravitating towards. Least we wind up with the common man investing in evil ideology.
I completely agree, and wherever you live I hope that you vote on improving public education for your state. I certainly do in mine, and we're represented by people who share that mindset as well. The problem is there's a high chance you live in one of these places too whereas many other states have declining public education standards and the voting base doesn't seem to care, or actively distrusts education unfortunately.
Hate crimes are what you're thinking of here. Racism is awful but it's not illegal. Saying racist things and verbally harassing, threatening, or abusing people are two very different things.