Merit should count

Student's free speech, not political correctness, important

By: By George Deutsch

Posted: 1/31/03

This week should mark the end of the many accusations of racial insensitivity being hurled at Bellaire High School's presumed 2003 valedictorian, Harry Huang. Bellaire, located in the Houston Independent School District (HISD), was shaken by scandal this past month when Huang allegedly made racist remarks toward Hispanics on his personal Internet profile, according to the Houston Chronicle. Huang immediately apologized and withdrew his statements, but he is still the focus of needless persecution at his school and in newspapers across the country. HISD's repeated calls for political correctness and racial sensitivity counseling, in reality, only serve to compromise the diverse and intellectually free environment it desires to create.

In December, Huang was apparently duped by several Hispanic men posing as mechanics. According to the Chronicle, the men damaged Huang's car, threatened him and demanded money for their "services," which Huang, fearing for his safety, begrudgingly payed. Huang then vented his anger toward the men in the privacy of his home on his Internet profile.

And while there is no way to justify racism, provoked or not, the circumstances surrounding Huang's comments deserve consideration. HISD's threats of removing Huang as valedictorian and possibly expelling him reek of overkill and fly in the face of his First Amendment right to free speech. Only last week did HISD withdraw its threats, according to the Chronicle, but an air of impending disciplinary action still seems to be lingering over Huang, and needlessly so.

The fact remains that the position of valedictorian should be based on academic success, and all speech, pleasing or not, must continue to be protected.

To be fair to Huang, his comments were not intended for an audience, nor were they distributed to the Bellaire High student body by him. The student who did disseminate the information in the school was not named in the Chronicle, but it is this person who was responsible for spreading racially insensitive material, not Huang.

HISD spokeswoman Heather Browne told the Chronicle that Bellaire Principal Tim Salem could have suspended Huang, in spite of his First Amendment rights, based on an ambiguous student conduct code provision prohibiting "any activity that disrupts class."

"The fact that what (was written) was copied and distributed was technically a disruption of the educational day," Browne told the Chronicle. If distributing racially insensitive material is grounds for suspension, the student who copied and passed out the remarks is at fault. It is he who should be threatened with suspension.

Adding insult to injury, Huang was made to wear the proverbial "A" on his chest and paraded around his school as a villain. The Chronicle reported that HISD officials mandated Huang stand in Bellaire's halls and distribute a humbly-written apology. Sadly, it is an accurate reflection of society's politically correct saturation when an 18-year-old's bedroom becomes a courtroom and he is held accountable for insignificant remarks made to no one in particular.

Harry Huang is not a racist, but instead a brilliant student who made a mistake which others only compounded. If our society is to ever come to terms with issues of race, we must not wear our emotions on our sleeves or let political correctness guide our consciences.