September 29, 2017

Lt. General Jay Silveria

United States Air Force Academy

2304 Cadet Drive

USAFA, CO 80804

RE: “Those words mean exactly what I want them to mean”

General Silveria,

It was Edmund Burke who said “the conflict in any society is always between order and freedom: And yes, I know why Oedipus went to Colonnus so before you consign me to the hell fires of Gehenna in the 10^th or may be the 11^th circle, the ones where the blaze is never banked, the ones with the sign that tells deplorable bitter clingers to abandon all hope ‘cuz there ain’t no round-trip tickets, please tell me if I can buy a copy of Dick Gregory’s autobiography in your book store?

Its title is NIGGER.

I shan’t ask if THE NIGGER OF NARCISSUS, a book written by a Nobel Prize winner is also in your book store? Nor shall I ask if Hamlet, a book riddled with obscene violence and rampant misogyny. [What did Hamlet really mean when he told Ophelia to “get thee to a nunnery”? [ Here’s a hint. “Nunnery” is a euphemism for “French Knocking Shoppe”] Is Huckleberry Finn on display or is it under the counter requiring a note from the teacher before a student can get it? How about Shylock?

I rather imagine that the Founders purposely put the First Amendment, the one about speech, first. An old Greek, a wounded veteran to boot, one of the founders of the Ancient and Honorable Order of DWEMs, said “Free men speak with free tongues”. And hate speech is protected speech.

There is a memorable line in “They Died with Their Boots On”. The big boss man at West Point tells a pandering politician, “We don’t concern ourselves with the making of wars here, only the fighting of them”.

“Sutor, ne ultra crepidam”

Kevin Smith