International Day for Countering Hate Speech – June 18, 2024

History of International Day for Countering Hate Speech

Hate speech involves speech, actions, and gestures that are intentionally hateful. Thus, it should be regulated and criminalized. For years the U.S. has been attempting to prohibit hate speech and crimes, such as violent acts like the cross burning by the Ku Klux Klan. Efforts have expanded over the years to include alleged ‘speech and thought’ crimes. Currently, any public statement against illegal immigration or same-sex marriage is termed ‘hate speech.’ The Southern Poverty Law Center includes pro-family groups in the list of hate groups for their opposition to same-sex marriage.

By law, the two types of threatening speech that could be restricted included ‘gesture or speech used to incite violence’ and ‘obscene or libelous words.’ In 1919, Oliver Wendell Holmes stretched this further when he argued in Schenck vs. the United States that falsely shouting ‘fire’ in a theater was prohibited. However, the law retained the argument for preventing physical harm from hate speech.

In 1992, Congress asked the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (N.T.I.A.) to examine the role of telecommunications in instigating hate speech and inciting violence. By 1993, N.T.I.A. had reported that a climate of hate induces violence. After the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, ‘the hate speech concept’ was brought into political discourse after President Bill Clinton alleged that it happened because of loud and angry hateful voices. The definition of hate speech changed in 2009 after the National Hispanic Media Coalition outlined that it had the following four parts: false facts, flawed argumentation, divisive language, and dehumanizing metaphors. Hate speech was not limited to inciting violence but also included an atmosphere that could encourage violence.