SAN ANTONIO – With the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, the country is once again grappling with symbols of hate in America and the people who use them.
Though the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center has a list of 917 organizations it has identified as "hate groups," a St. Mary's University School of Law professor said there is no legal definition of the term. Furthermore, while the messages the groups have may be vile, they have often protected speech.
Map details where Texas hate groups are in 2017
"We don't allow the government simply to label certain groups in ways that will generally allow them to suppress speech," said Professor Michael Ariens.
Ariens, who specializes in Constitutional law and legal history, says we as a society have, in general, decided we prefer "more speech to less speech."
The First Amendment's umbrella of protection on free speech often includes offensive speech about different groups, ethnicities or religions by itself. However, once it crosses the line of "true threats," the law can step in.
"If someone threatens to physically harm you because you are a Muslim or a Christian, that can be prosecuted," Ariens said. "If someone simply says vile things about Muslims or Christians, that cannot constitutionally be proscribed or suppressed."
The FBI, which investigates hate crimes, gave this emailed response to KSAT's inquiry about hate groups:
"The FBI investigates activity which may constitute a federal crime or pose a threat to national security. Our focus is not on membership in particular groups or adherence to particular ideologies or beliefs but on criminal activity. The FBI cannot initiate an investigation based solely on an individual's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or the exercise of the First Amendment or other Constitutional rights, and we remain committed to protecting those rights for all Americans."
Similarly, when it comes to demonstrating in San Antonio, the city's police department said it won't stop anybody based on their message. San Antonio Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame noted the Ku Klux Klan has even rallied in San Antonio before.
Salame said the city and police have "got to go out of our way to make sure everybody's rights are protected, regardless what it is that they're saying — no matter how we feel about it personally."
Police will step in if there is a credible threat to public safety, he said.
"Something tangible," Salame said. "Not just the fact that somebody's going to come out here and say these things and people aren't going to like it. We need more intelligence."
Of course, those who don't like what's being said have the right to speak out, too.
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