ACLU President Deborah Archer delivered this year’s Victor S. Johnson lecture on her work and the importance of free speech to democracy as part of Vanderbilt’s second annual Free Speech Week. Archer—an award-winning teacher and legal scholar at NYU Law School—is a nationally recognized expert on civil rights, civil liberties, and racial justice.
Notably, Archer earned the 2021 John Hope Franklin Prize for “White Men’s Roads through Black Men’s Homes: Advancing Racial Equity through Highway Reconstruction,” a Vanderbilt Law Review article that serves as the basis for a book she is currently writing.
Her journey to the ACLU
Archer life experiences inspired her to become a civil rights lawyer and fight for the rights of marginalized groups.
“I spent a good part of my life feeling like the constitution’s protections and the freedoms that it espouses didn’t apply to my family,” Archer said. “All of the ACLU’s work is critical to bridging that gap between the America that’s promised and the America that is.”
Archer witnessed the intense and consistent discrimination her parents faced as black Jamaican immigrants growing up in Connecticut. Her parents moved the family to a suburb of Hartford to provide a better life for their children, but the discrimination followed. Archer recalled one instance when her house and car were vandalized with graffiti reading “KKK.”
Racial discrimination persisted through college, when Archer received a note calling her the N-word and telling her to “go back to where she belonged.”
Relatives questioned why Archer wanted to work for the ACLU out of college—an organization that had enabled racist organizations to have a platform—but she trusted her belief in the ACLU’s missions.
“I believed in the work of the ACLU then, and I believe in it now, because I know that the constitution’s promises of liberty and equality are linked,” Archer said. “They are really two sides of the same coin, and protecting free speech, including the ability to protest and speak out against those in positions of power, is essential to the fight for equality.”
Defending the First Amendment
The ACLU defends the First Amendment on the grounds that it is the foundation for a healthy democracy.
“We [the ACLU] believe deeply that freedom of the press, freedom of speech and academic freedom are all interconnected,” Archer said. “That they’re all critically important to a functioning, vibrant, and inclusive democracy.”
Regardless of the stakeholders, the ACLU’s mission remains the same.
“We have zealously fought for the rights of people in groups of varied ideologies and beliefs to speak their minds, including those who are actively working against the work that we do each and every day,” Archer said.
The role of colleges
Colleges play a key role in fostering environments for students to explore and learn safely, which is why Archer believes it is essential that they defend freedom of speech.
She cited several key moments in the history of free speech that took place on college campuses, including the 1970 Kent State shootings and the 1972 Supreme Court case Healy v. James. When students at Central Connecticut State University attempted to organize a chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, a national organization that grew out of the American socialist movement, ,the university blocked the request on the grounds that the chapter would cause disorder.
“The Supreme Court forcefully rejected the premise that, because of the acknowledged need for order, First Amendment protection should apply with less force on college campuses than in the community at large,” Archer explained.
She emphasized the need to protect free speech in schools.
“It is precisely in these fraught moments when we depend on universities to light the way by living and not just speaking their values,” Archer said. “Core among those values is defending freedom of expression even when, indeed especially when, it espouses viewpoints that may offend political majorities.”
The fight for racial justice
Archer described free speech as a double-edged sword, one that can be a burden or a helping hand in the fight for racial justice.
“Just as the right to free speech can sometimes feel like a burden on the fight for racial justice, the right to free speech is essential to the fight for racial justice,” Archer said. “Without freedom of speech, minorities would lose the ability to protest, to organize, to speak truth to power and to fight for our rights.”
The fight, Archer said, is a product of generations of pent-up frustration over oppression, and that frustration is a key player in combating injustice.
“Protest is essential. It’s an important outlet for rage that injustice inspires,” Archer said. “I truly believe that we should not be afraid of that rage. Rage can be a source of pain, but rage can be the fuel of change.”
The right to vote
Archer felt “obligated” to discuss the role of voting in protecting free speech, because voting is the foundation of democracy itself.
“Democracy is fragile. I think we forget democracy is fragile, and we have to work to protect it every single day,” Archer said. “The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, and I think we have to admit that foundation is crumbling.”
Closing
Archer left the audience by reiterating the importance of the First Amendment and commending Vanderbilt for its role in protecting free speech and encouraging dialogue.
“The First Amendment is not merely a set of abstract legal protections. It is the life blood of our democracy,” she said.
“Vanderbilt’s commitment to fostering these discussions reflects the very essence of what universities should stand for,” she continued. “A place where ideas are challenged, difficult conversations are had and embraced, and the leaders of tomorrow are prepared to uphold the values of freedom, equality, and justice.”
