This letter is directed to the dozen or so cowards who waited until the Martin Luther King Mall was empty on the evening of Feb. 18 to erase, under the guise of patriotism, an advertisement written on the sidewalk by an SA-recognized organization.

If you really believe that your freedom of speech gives you the right to trample others’ opinions, that I am a communist for disagreeing with you, that JLS members are communists for questioning the activities of the CIA, that John Kennedy was a “Red” for criticizing the CIA, and that real Americans never question their government, then I suggest that your ideal of American democracy has more in kin with the Ku Klux Klan than the Constitution.

If you really want, as one of you shouted from the safety of your crowd, to have my phone number so you can threaten me in the night, I am sure you can find someone who can read to look it up for you.

In the meantime, think on this: our country was populated by people wanting to escape the tyrannies you propound. To be a real American is to constantly question your government and yourself. To be a coward is to hide behind twelve other guys and wave a flag when no one is watching.

Michael C. Hickey

department of history