by Sara-Jessica Dilks

About a month ago at the restaurant where I work, I welcomed in two regular customers with my usual greeting of a cheesy smile and a “Hi guys, how are ya tonight?”

I scribbled down “Jim and Terri” on the wait list and told them a table would be ready in a couple of minutes, just like any other night they came in. When they left, I waved them out the door with my typical farewell of, “Take care guys, see you next week!”

But I wouldn’t. The next time I would see the face of Terri LaManno would be on the front page of The New York Times website underneath the boldface headline, “Man kills 3 at Jewish Center in Kansas City suburb.” I felt sick to my stomach.

When I first think of Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, KS, what comes to mind is how this is where I have celebrated the bar mitzvahs of my childhood best friends. This is where senior Katherine Viviano has been on stage for more than 30 theatre performances in the past few years. This is where senior Grace Wells exercises weekly in their gym. This is where junior Molly Mullen works after school in the kids area.

This is also where anti-Semitic maniac Frazier Glenn Miller shot to death Blue Valley High School freshman Reat Underwood and his grandfather, William Corporon, on April 13. Soon after, Miller did the same to Terri LaManno, a mother and St. Peter’s Church parishioner, at the nearby Village Shalom assisted living center.

When a horrible tragedy like this happens in our own backyard, our community feels a bitter pang of reality smack us pretty damn hard in the face. We realize that awful acts of violence can occur in our picture-perfect Kansas City; the very same city where we have picnics at Loose Park, cheer for the Royals and shoot hoops in our nicely-paved driveways.

Surely, I’m not the only one who wonders why local law enforcement hadn’t been watching Miller more closely, considering his extensive history of hate crime. According to an article from Slate magazine, a lawsuit was filed against Miller in the 1980s “for harassing and pointing guns at black people and also white people who were friends with black people.”

But perhaps most significant to me about Miller’s background is his history of hate speech. Look, there were warning signs here: Miller produced at least three racism-based newspapers in a decade and was interviewed about his radical views on multiple radio shows. Days before the attack, he posted on an online white supremacy forum: “…Get up off your knees – slither out of your hidden cellars – stand erect and boldly face the rising sun…Heil Hitler!!!” As a result of utilizing his first-amendment right to produce hate speech, Miller rose to fame among the white supremacist community and gained notoriety among the rest of us.

Here’s my dilemma in this situation: as a writer, I’ve been told since the first month of Intro to Journalism class that the first amendment, which protects my right to free speech, is my best friend. It’s what allows me to expose problems within our community as well as publish this article.

Yet the first amendment is also what allowed the Westboro Baptist Church to picket the funerals of American military veterans holding signs that read, “Thank God for dead soldiers.” It’s what allowed the same group to stand outside a Kansas City all-boys high school holding signs that read “God hates fags” in October 2010. It’s what allowed charges to be dropped against a white teenager who burned a cross in the lawn of his black neighbors in 1992. It’s also what allowed Frazier Glenn Miller to be glorified as he announced “Hitler would have created a paradise on Earth, particularly for white people” on the popular Howard Stern Radio Show in 2010.

In light of all these recent examples of hate speech, I’ve sometimes felt as if my steadfast belief in the first amendment trembles. The consequences of hate speech can be severe in some cases; for example, innocent people like Terri LaManno dying needlessly. Am I on the wrong side of a war that uses words as weapons? Of a war that uses sickening prejudices as devices to terrorize citizens? Of a war that uses hate speech as a call to engage in hate crime?

I firmly believe that the privilege to speak freely is accompanied hand-in-hand with social responsibility. Evidently, it’s nearly impossible to prevent extremists like Miller from abusing this right. The JCC shootings will serve as an example to cherish the provisions of the first amendment, which frankly are rights that many people in this massive world are denied.

In the very least, a wider discussion needs to be opened about the legality of hate speech in our country. Since the JCC incident, I’ve bitten my tongue before telling another customer, “See you next week.” There’s no way I want to make another empty promise if an outburst of hate sacrifices the life of another beloved Kansas Citian.