Freedom of Speech Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v....

The articles Freedom of Speech: Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. Kansas City and Freedom of Religion: Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association both engage in conflicts pertaining to the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Freedom of Speech: Missouri Knights of the Ku Klux Klan v. Kansas City is an article about the KKKs attempt to spread their beliefs through a public access cable television channel. Dennis Mahon and Allan Moran, both of the KKK, asked to be broadcasted on air in 1987, and the whole situation led to a major problem. The†¦show more content†¦Reverend Cleaver was a notable man and was also one the victims of a KKK cross burning on his property. The Kansas City area was one of the most segregated areas in the country and there had been other continuing incidents of gra ffiti and harassment to black members of the community. Reverend Cleaver believed that the KKK should not be granted the ability to exercise their freedom of speech because they were a terrorist organization and murderers of thousands of people across the country. The only solution to keeping the show off the air was to prove that the Klansas City Kable would trigger violence in the neighborhood. Because none of the episodes of Klansas City Kable had been created yet, Reverend Cleaver had to turn to another idea. He presented the idea of eliminating the public access channel altogether. Finally, on June 16, 1988, the city council of Kansas City voted 9 to 2 to drop the public access channel. Surprisingly, one of the two votes against the idea was Joanne Collins. She got a lot of attention because she was black. She believed the freedom of speech should not be withheld from anyone, even if it was the KKK. This event caused much debate and officials battered over what the Fir st Amendment stood for. Because the public access channel was dropped, Pevar filed a suit in federal district court on behalf of the KKK: Missouri Knights ofShow MoreRelatedEssays for the American Pageant, 14th Ed.11068 Words   |  45 Pagesportray him to voters as an elitist who was out of touch with the needs of the people. By building up western enthusiasm and gaining the support of some political machines that were being developed to recruit voters among the working class in the cities of the East, the Jackson campaign easily prevailed in the Election of 1828. Jackson reciprocated by holding an inaugural party at the White House to which all were invited. The resulting fracas was referred to as â€Å"King Mob†, but it showed that Jackson