Collegiate Times

The FBI is currently investigating whether or not William A. White has taken advantage of his First Amendment rights.

After the Jena 6 rally on Sept. 20, where thousands of protestors joined in support of six black students charged with assaulting a white student, White took his views on the issue to a different level by posting the addresses of each defendant on a website.

He made suggestions in the Web site www.overthrow.com about displaying nooses because of the Jena 6, "lynching the Jena 6," and that there is "nothing wrong with" attempting to murder them at their houses.

White has links on his Web site to detailed noose spottings, blogs containing strong opinions and suggestions about the Jena 6, and notes that what he does is not against the law; and that if it is, he is prepared.

"They should recognize that ... I have plenty of money, experienced attorneys, and have beaten several efforts they have made in the past to sue me or bring charges against me for various nonsense," wrote White in a letter on his Web site.

Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, explained that White has not yet crossed the line.

"By and large, he is almost certainly protected by the First Amendment, but the FBI is looking into it," said Potok. "He basically stops just short of falling outside of the first amendment."

The FBI's investigation is ongoing, as it is looking to see if a case can be made about his overstepping the boundary lines of the first amendment.

"There has to be either criminal incitement or criminal threat for him to be crossing the line," Potok said.

He explained that criminal incitement is when there is a more immediate element present and the situation is excited. It would involve someone urging and pressuring to make the crime happen.

With criminal threat, the standard of the threat of crime must be extremely high and the probability of danger occurring must appear to be impending.

"You have to ask the question, 'would a reasonable person in the shoes of the target of that threat feel that it is real?'" Potok said.

Many people are wondering how far White is going to go, but as Potok noted, he has the tendency to speak in a very conditional voice.

However, as Ray Williams, director of Multicultural Programs, pointed out, one can only hope he doesn't act on his words.

"He does enjoy living in this country as it comes with certain freedoms, but he needs to be careful about abusing his freedom," Williams said.

Many, like Williams, feel as if White's approach to expressing his views on the Jena 6 has twisted the current interpretations of the First Amendment.

"There is a problem with using freedom of speech for inciting hatred of anger toward other people," Williams said.

How to deal with White is a question people must ask themselves while the investigations of his address postings and threats on his Web site continue.

"I think one important thing is to stay informed so we always know what he's trying to say and who he is saying it to," Williams said. "With the irrational position he's coming from, there is no rational way to approach it."