Basic rights under siege

by MICHAEL ERIC DYSON

The Chicago Sun-Times, November 20, 2001, page 29 (editorial)

If the first casualty of war is indeed free speech, we must be especially vigilant to protect our civil liberties and the bold concept of freedom on which they rest. Therefore, we must resist and publicly criticize President Bush's plan to broadly expand the use of electronic surveillance to trap terrorists, since it may actually unfairly target American citizens.

Moreover, Bush's plan to use secret military tribunals to prosecute terrorists may turn out to be a rejection of the principle of due process that guarantees democracy.

The real terror behind many of the legal maneuvers of the Bush administration at this point is their threat to the moral and legal fabric of the very society he aims to protect. For instance, the Justice Department has already announced that it plans to wiretap conversations between some prisoners and their legal counsel. The problem here is that the Justice Department can exploit such broad-based powers under the guise of fighting terrorism to otherwise harass and discriminate against certain prisoners. Furthermore, political prisoners in particular are vulnerable to such an agenda. Their critique of American government can be handily punished through discretionary powers exercised by the state. This could turn out to be Orwellian manipulation of the truth at its worst. What's worse is that it would be done in the name of protecting America against a virulent strain of terror when the real harm would be the actions of our own government.

For those who doubt that we could stoop to such manipulation, a refresher course is in order. Remember COINTELPRO, the government's efforts to put down black revolutionaries during the 1960s and '70s? Their crime was that they sought to bridge the gulf between American rhetoric about rights, freedom and democracy, and the woeful political practices that negated these realities. The government carried out a heinous program of political harassment, invasive technological surveillance and outright fomenting of political disturbance to flush out ostensible anti-patriots. But many of these people--including figures like then-Black Panther Bobby Rush, who is now a highly regarded congressman and ordained minister--were committed to making America a better nation for all its citizens.

Then, too, we must not forget that even Martin Luther King Jr. was targeted by the FBI for outrageous electronic surveillance because he represented a threat to our democracy. King's office, home and hotels were tapped. FBI head J. Edgar Hoover contended that such surveillance would prove that King was a communist who sought to undermine American government.

King was indeed a radical democrat who sought to force America to, as he stated the night before he died, "be true to what you said on paper."

But this legendary American hero was subject to vicious, anti-democratic procedures in the name of protecting government. It only hurt our government in the long run because it failed to concede the legitimacy and political usefulness of dissent. It is chilling to remember that Bobby Kennedy, who was then the attorney general, authorized the wiretaps, with the full knowledge of President John F. Kennedy.

Bush's efforts to try terrorists in a secret proceeding is dangerous, even frightening. Bush alone would decide who is brought before such courts. The military prosecutors and judges who handle cases would report directly to him. And the need for traditional evidence would be suspended in such trials. All of this smacks of injustice and bad judgment. If we are to maintain any semblance of fairness, we must bring terrorists before international courts of justice that have proved proficient in prosecuting war criminals form Nuremberg to Bosnia. To do less would be to extend a marred record of American governmental justification of misdeeds in the name of protecting our democracy. The ultimate safeguard against such distortion is to behave justly, even when dealing with the enemies of our country. Otherwise, we are no better than the unprincipled and destructive terrorists we condemn.

Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of religious studies at DePaul University and author of Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur. E-mail: mdyson@depaul.edu