Sandra Day O'Connor and the KKK

In 2001 Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor handed down a judgment stating that a 50 year old Virginia law banning cross burning was illegal. Burning crosses, she felt, fell under the First Amendment guarantee to "Freedom of Speech", and that burning crosses did not imply intimidation and terrorism. Using this landmark decision the state of Virginia ban was struck down as being Unconstitutional. The ruling also overturned a 1998 judgement in Virginia Beach of a cross burning in a neighbor's yard. Or the KKK was given the green light to burn crosses on neighbor's property.

Justice O'Connor feels "It may be true that a cross burning, even at a political rally, arouses a sense of anger or hatred among the vast majority of citizens who see a burning cross, but this sense of anger or hatred is not sufficient to ban all cross burnings." In 2003 the decision was reversed. She invalidated the part of the Virginia ban that assumes cross burning is being used to create fear of bodily harm. The Virginia law could be upheld if the cross burning was proven to have been done with intention to intimidate.

Again, Ku Klux Klan members were given the okay to burn crosses. Is this Justice? What, I wonder, is the purpose of burning crosses on other people's property supposed to cause someone to feel or think, if not fear? People today, are quite alarmed about our spoiled and violent youth and I often wonder how they can expect our youth to behave better than adults. This could be especially true among black youths when taking a look about how US government views hate crimes that have been committed against themselves and their ancestors for years. Justice O'Connor feels that burning crosses can be used to show solidarity with and the ideology of the Klan. In the meantime thousands of lives are being lost overseas to fight the supposed ideology and solidarity of Muslims.

What is going on here?