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THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 27, 2002
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A Sign Of The Times This billboard was placed on the Brooklyn Bridge in 2000 by a nonprofit group that was formed in Middle Village. The Port Authority forced it down amid tremendous outcry and accusations of racism and hate-mongering. This led to a legal battle over freedom of speech. To find out more, read the Editorial on this page.
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This is a tale of blatant disregard for the Constitution. As such, it involves prejudice, hatred and the government hurting business. And though the story has a happy ending, nobody is celebrating.
While living in Middle Village about four years ago, Craig Nelsen founded ProjectUSA, a nonprofit dedicated to slowing the country’s population boom by reducing immigration levels. He began by renting commercial billboards in Sunnyside and Ridgewood that displayed pictures of children and cited factual information obtained from the Census Bureau. “Immigration is doubling U.S. population in our lifetimes,” read one poster.
Jumping on Nelsen’s campaign as though it were an open flame in a lumber yard, a bevy of politicians, religious leaders, newspaper scribes and television reporters reacted quickly and with intense anger. Nelsen was called such names as “Judas Iscariot” and even a “Nazi.” In the City Council, then-Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. called for a “boycott of these illegally placed signs,” and members passed a resolution denouncing ProjectUSA without letting Nelsen address the legislative body.
That vote and other bureaucratic actions made it almost impossible for the so-called “hate-monger” to give his business to billboard companies because, among other reasons, they were afraid of losing their city contracts. Then in October 2000, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey forced Nelsen to take down a poster he was renting at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge before the contract had expired.
Nelsen reacted in the most American of ways and threatened to sue the Port Authority for infringing upon his First Amendment right to free speech. He almost couldn’t, though, as it took nearly a year to find a lawyer willing to represent him since nobody wanted to risk his/her professional reputation by working for a persona non grata.
Even the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims to be the “tireless defenders of the First Amendment,” turned Nelsen down three times.
Did his billboards contain sexually inappropriate images? Did they espouse lies or push alcohol and violence on minors? Was he late on payments or was there a zone code violation?
Not at all, but they were not “politically correct.” That left Nelsen wide open for insults, hate and suffocation.
The story here is not about siding with Craig Nelsen. Far more important is the matter of agreeing with Voltaire, the 18th century French philosopher, who maintained: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
That’s the only way that democracy can thrive.
Quietly over the past few months, the Port Authority has settled with Nelsen and paid him for having denied him his rights. Where are the pundits and the media now?
Freedom of speech has just won a huge victory. Too bad the politically correct don’t want to talk about it.