At a recent vigil for Trayvon Martin held at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, student Mike Newbern chose to make an appearance by standing in front of the crowd with arms crossed as he prominently displayed his empty gun holster. This “statement” of Newbern’s disturbed a number of people at the vigil. 
Josiah Ryan wrote to the Columbus Dispatch newspaper and made some relevant points defending the actions of “his friend” (“Speech should be celebrated, not quelled, on college campuses”, the Columbus(Dispatch, 4/14/2012). However (you probably knew that word was coming), in his defense of Newbern, Ryan committed some serious omissions.
Ryan pointed out that Newbern’s obvious display of his holster at the vigil for someone who was killed by a handgun was an act that “…deeply offended a number of liberals….” Ryan went on to discuss that some of the offended, especially Lauren Kinsey in a Plunderbund blog, improperly accused Newbern of a hate crime. Ryan denounced Kinsey’s extreme statements, and he then chastised the offended “OSU liberals” for not celebrating and protecting “…the rights of self-expression….”
Ryan is absolutely correct that a hate crime is not committed without an actual crime, and I heartily agree that such extreme extrapolations of actual circumstances are not helpful or useful in a positive way. However (again), Ryan selectively ignores the “elephants in the vigil” which include, at the very least, the indecency, inappropriate behavior, and insensitivity of Newbern’s actions. Hopefully one does not need to be a “liberal” to appreciate that a vigil is not the appropriate forum for getting into a debate regarding whatever the actual points Newbern intended.
While Newbern’s actions are well within the limits of the law, there are standards of civility defining our society that get trampled by such brash actions. Newbern’s decision to make an opposing “statement” during a vigil was on par with the Westboro Baptist Church’s “statements” during funerals for our military dead.
While such “statements” are totally legal and protected by the Constitution, Newbern and the Westboro Church do not understand, or choose to ignore, the virtues of civil decency and appropriateness. There is the law, and there is common decency, which me must strive to avoid allowing to become less common.
Certainly these are concepts that all of us should embrace as an ethical society. Furthermore, we would wish the same of our leaders. Certainly in his position, Josiah Ryan, the “Communications director, Campus Leadership Program, Leadership Institute, Washington, D.C.” should clearly display a better understanding of such. We, the People, should accept nothing less.
The Conflicted Idealist 