http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171976.html
By Michael Bartlett, Newsbytes NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A. 07 Nov 2001, 7:51 PM CST
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) today unveiled an online index of what it calls, "various censorship and free expression incidents" stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The NCAC claims in a press release it is the, "only organization that is actively tracking how the events of Sept. 11 have affected political dissent and free expression in schools, entertainment, news, media and art."
"Throughout U.S. history, threats to national security have tested the tolerance of our nation for different ideas and opinions," Joan Bertin, executive director of the NCAC said in a prepared statement. "I suspect that the resulting fallout from the events of Sept. 11 will, once again, challenge us to recognize that the strength of our democracy lies in our commitment to the ability of people to political dissent, free press and open government."
The index is a compilation of a variety of incidents from across the country, ranging from a painting being temporarily removed from the Baltimore Museum of Art because it contained the word "terrorist," to a record of newspaper columnists fired for criticizing President George W. Bush's actions in the days after the terrorist attacks.
In many cases, the index contains links to newspaper or online news organization Web sites that contain the original stories. Examples of these stories include:
- On Sept. 19, according to an Associated Press article reprinted on the freedomforum.org site, the library director at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla., ordered her staff not to wear stickers bearing the slogan, "I'm proud to be an American," because she feared they might offend the school's 200 foreign students.
- The following day, a Pittsburgh substitute teacher was suspended over notes he scribbled on a newspaper, according to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
John Gardner told the newspaper the words, "Osama bin Laden did us a favor. He vulcanized us, awakened us and strengthened our resolve" came from a TV newscast, and he wrote them in the margin of a newspaper. Gardner said he collected many such sayings, including one from President Bush that said, "we're going to be stronger because of it," for a book he is writing on making the best of bad situations.
Gardner transferred the comment to a notebook and threw the newspaper away. Another teacher spotted the paper and reported only the first part of the quotation, "Osama bin Laden did us a favor," to the office. Gardner then was escorted off school property by campus police and was told he was suspended.
The next day, Sept. 21, Gardner was reinstated, and school officials reportedly said the writings were "found to be benign," and "there was a misunderstanding."
- On Oct. 10, Neil Godfrey attempted to board a United Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix, Ariz. According to the Philadelphia citypaper.net site, Godfrey was carrying the book, "Hayduke Lives!" a 1991 novel about a radical environmentalist who blows up construction projects he believes are destroying the landscape.
The book, whose cover illustration featured a hand holding sticks of dynamite, made Godfrey the target of an extended interrogation by Philadelphia police, Pennsylvania State Troopers, airport security and the National Guard.
Eventually, Godfrey was cleared by security but was barred from getting on the plane by United. An unidentified airline representative told Godfrey he would not be allowed to board for three reasons: he was reading a book with a bomb on the cover, he purchased his ticket on Sept. 11 and his Arizona driver's license had expired.
Godfrey said he bought the ticket shortly after midnight on Sept. 11, several hours before terrorists hijacked the doomed airliners, and he insisted his license was not expired, but he still was denied entry on to the plane.
- A week before Halloween, an article in the Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal detailed the mandate by the site council for McCarter Elementary School regarding costumes. Students were ordered to wear only "patriotic" costumes to school on Oct. 31.
According to the newspaper, other schools in Topeka "encouraged" pupils to wear red, white and blue, but only McCarter mandated it.
More information on the NCAC is available at http://www.ncac.org .
The censorship index is on the Web at http://www.ncac.org/issues/freeex911.html .
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .
===== Kevin Dean Buffalo, NY ICQ: 8616001 http://www.yaysoft.com
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