Free Expression Tunnel

By: Katie Schaefer

Graffiti is never something that I have got into, but for some it's a way of life. Some have grown up in parts of towns where all a person does is write on walls with spray paint.

At N.C. State University an incident occurred dealing with just that: spray painting. Four students painted racist messages on the Free Expression Tunnel on campus. Racism is already not a good thing, but the messages were specifically about Barack Obama.

The First Amendment states that we have the right to free speech, but how far is too far to stretch this Amendment?

The Supreme Court ruled that when yelling fire in a crowded theater a person is not at fault when there actually is a fire. If there is no fire, then that is where the problem and Oliver Wendell Holmes comes in.

Going back to the racist comments, though, why would people say and paint these things on the wall? Obviously they are probably thinking these thoughts, but what good is it going to do when they are spray painted on a wall?

It's not going to make the remarks more hurtful. I don't know what the students were thinking when they proceeded to write the comments, but maybe they thought by writing them it was going to cause more pain to Obama.