Appeals court upholds ‘black Jewish’ group’s right to spew hateful rhetoric in public

Very reminiscent of this case He Looked Hate in the Eye

A Pennsylvania appeals court upheld the right of black Hebrew Israelites to spew hateful slurs at passersby on city-owned property in Philadelphia.

A group from the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge received city permits to speak near the Shops at Liberty Place, where they loudly declare their hatred toward white people and other racial groups and refer to women as whores.

“The scriptures say black woman, shut your damn mouth,” one man shouted at passersby, according to court documents. “That’s what the scriptures say. Learn in silence. The scriptures say learn in silence. You understand? Shut your mouth, black woman. You understand?”

he owner of the nearby high-rise development sued, claiming the group’s demonstrations were a public nuisance – but the Superior Court upheld a previous Common Pleas Court ruling that found the Black Judaism group had constitutional protection.

“This was a fringe organization whose messages, though abhorrent to some, were exercising First Amendment freedoms,” their attorney, James Funt, told KYW-TV. “We are a free society, (and) speech should be combatted with more speech. We don’t want to end up in a slippery slope because we want to chill the speech of another group because it’s more convenient or it’s not offensive.”

Appeals court upholds ‘black Jewish’ group’s right to spew hateful rhetoric in public