Regarding free speech, the First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” The Supreme Court, in Marsh v. Alabama (1946), held that the First Amendment applies in all public places, even if privately owned. Enter the left’s Soviet-style intimidation.
In a series of cascading ironies – like Russian dolls within dolls – a beautiful 20-year-old woman named Iryna Zarutska fled war-torn Ukraine in 2022. Craving safety in the United States, she was ruthlessly stabbed to death three years later on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The visual of an innocent young woman being senselessly stabbed to death, suddenly and from behind, by a young black man in a red hoodie, who then calmly walked away, was chilling.
More than chilling, it was – for a time – the national outrage, a powerful reminder that leftists, as an article of their no-consequences ideology, allow multi-crime felons to walk. And where they walk, death follows. From North Carolina to Maine, schizophrenic felons to illegal aliens, it is a reality.
In a rare display of national unity – and revulsion at that senseless, violent crime – murals were commissioned, many privately funded, to honor the young Ukrainian victim of this heinous crime. One was painted – artfully, beautifully, with depth and solemnity – in Providence, Rhode Island.
In a second irony, that mural was painted on a privately owned, liberal, avowedly LGBTQ nightclub – which was then ruthlessly attacked by fringe leftists for honoring this Ukrainian refugee victim, killed by a black repeat felon, since the mural was partially funded by conservative Elon Musk.
Unspoken but embedded in cancel culture, this neo-Soviet, transparently Marxist push for intimidation of those who defend free speech – even for reduced crime – was a shadow charge of racism. Not said, the mural was suddenly “too controversial,” and so must be taken down.
The big irony – idiotic compliance with Marxist suppression of art for fear of being called racist – is that the left is consuming the left, shutting down anything that smacks of “truth, justice and the American way,” rights notwithstanding. Speech is being cancelled for honoring the victims of crime.
To be clear: The owner of the private Providence (ironic name) nightclub had a right to put up that mural under the 1st Amendment. Musk – a citizen honoring the victim – had a right to contribute. Both were canceled – the mural “too controversial” for radicals, implicitly defending the killer.
These cascading ironies are hard to unpack, let alone fathom – an innocent refugee fleeing violence killed by a repeat felon with no respect for life, prompting a mural honoring innocence, placed on a liberal nightclub’s wall – but then cancelled, actually forced down by implicit threats of violence.
What is America coming to? What is the 1st Amendment coming to if those who speak for safety, innocence, and goodness are intimidated into full retreat, put in fear of losing business or worse, by those who disregard the 1st Amendment, dishonor life and law, and defend violence?
The answer is that “America” – North Carolina to Maine, Minnesota to California – is at risk, vital values eroding, future generations misinformed. Lost is what freedom and responsibility mean.
Bottom line: We are not exercising our rights with conviction, losing respect for what matters. We need to rediscover our courage, respect the rule of law, innocence over violence, truth over false and fatal narratives. Needed is respect for truth and the 1st Amendment. By allowing neo-Soviet leftism to cancel that mural, we invite the forces of oppression to rise and cancel all of us.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
