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Writer's pictureErin Leone

Ben Shapiro: America Was Built on Freedom

Controversial commentator and political activist Ben Shapiro spoke at Boston University (BU) on November 13th, invited by its Young Americans for Freedom chapter.


The enthusiastic crowd of 1,500 attendees, along with a standby line waiting for open seats, greatly outnumbered the one hundred protestors outside the Boston University Track and Tennis Center.


Ben Shapiro’s speech, titled “America was not built on slavery, but on freedom”, stirred up much protest and frustration, especially on behalf of the university’s minority student group, Black BU. Black BU advocated that Mr. Shapiro be banned, and stated in an open letter that it would be “triggered, frustrated, disheartened, devalued, infuriated, overwhelmed, ignored” and “embarrassed of BU” if he were to be allowed to speak on campus.


“Just because someone disagrees with you . . . does not mean they are being mean to you,” Mr. Shapiro said during his speech. “If America was founded on slavery, why then is America today so free? Why is Black BU outside, protesting this event, free to speak their minds, attending one of the best universities in the country. . . if slavery was a defining feature of the American experience?”


Contrary to Internet claims that Mr. Shapiro is a “hate-monger” and “white supremacist”, the commentator’s lecture provided evidence that he does in fact support black American citizens and consider them equal to white citizens. Racism will always be a problem, Mr. Shapiro stated, but freedom has always prevailed due to the work of black American heroes, such as Frederick Douglass, the Tuskegee Airmen, and Martin Luther King, Jr. He stressed the importance of discerning the present from the past, acknowledging that freedom has “expanded, not contracted, over time”. Though the rights of black Americans have been infringed upon in the past, he argued that black rights are “fully intact” in today’s United States. “Those who suggest that America is based on slavery and cruelty are seeking to curb those freedoms.”


Additionally, the way that Mr. Shapiro carried himself throughout his lecture was not hateful or hostile in any way. He uniquely supported his claims by tying together historical fact, economics, philosophy, government, business, and world events. When an audience member shouted out arguments during the speech, he warned him in a businesslike manner to be respectful of the other spectators. He offered the dissenter the opportunity to go first during the Q&A session at the conclusion of the lecture several times. Eventually, the audience loudly requested that the offender be removed from the venue.


As a student, I have taken United States history at multiple levels and yet learned things from Mr. Shapiro’s speech that were not part of my history courses. For example, according to Mr. Shapiro, the Constitution’s disappointing Three Fifths Clause was actually created to ensure that slavery supporters in the south had less say than abolitionists in other parts of the country. And, as a young lady with a desire to be a leader of our world in the future, I was inspired by Mr. Shapiro’s use of little-known historical facts and have decided to find some of my own to keep in my back pocket.


People of all colors, genders, creeds, and political leanings would benefit from listening to Ben Shapiro speak. As he explained in his lecture, “The story of America . . . is really a story of . . . the perfection of our Union, and the fulfillment of the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.” This responsibility belongs to all Americans, and dwelling on the negative aspects of our past rather than our growth as a nation will only continue to limit the potential we share.

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