No need to brag on U.S.

By Huntly Collins

Revelations that the National Constitution Center removed a planned music video from its Oct. 21 award ceremony for Malala Yousafzai have set off accusations that the center somehow violated the very constitutional right that it embraces - freedom of speech.

The video featured 14-year-old pop singer Ayla Potamkin, who had written the song in honor of the Pakistani winner of the Liberty Medal.

Philadelphia lawyer Richard Sprague, who said he was with Potamkin's father when he was told the video was being pulled from the ceremony, asserted that the action "goes against everything that center should stand for."

But this flap has nothing to do with free speech because it doesn't involve government intrusion into protected expression.

The Constitution Center is not a government institution. Though it sits on federal land, it is a private, nonprofit museum whose funding comes largely from private donations and admission fees. As a private organization, it is free to edit its award program however it wants without running afoul of the First Amendment.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld this very principle in 1995 when it unanimously ruled that the state could not force the private sponsors of Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade to include a gay and lesbian contingent even though the parade occurred on public streets.

In Philadelphia, it's unfortunate that the planners of the Liberty Medal ceremony didn't kill the music video, titled "America," when they first reviewed it. But it's fortuitous that Yousafzai's organization pressed the point, ultimately convincing the Constitution Center to remove the video from the program and spare us the dishonor that would have come our way had the video run as planned.

The music video, made by the daughter of a politically well-connected auto magnate whose family launched its business empire in Philadelphia more than 50 years ago, fairly drips in red, white, and blue. Among its lyrics:

I'm so lucky to live in America

I'm so lucky to live where I can make change

I'm so lucky to live in America

Where the hope is free, where the kids are safe

Where I can just be me

You can understand these lyrics coming from the mouth of a 14-year-old whose only frame of reference is all the privileges America has afforded her.

In 1962, as a young student journalist caught up in the excitement of the space race, I used the same kind of hyperbole in an editorial for my high school newspaper. It was titled "To Be an American" and it sang the praises of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. Needless to say, that expression of over-the-top patriotism is no longer on my resume.

What's hard to understand in the case of the Liberty Medal controversy, however, is why the adults didn't step in sooner to counsel a different venue for the music video.

However heartfelt, the lyrics are insulting to Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Pakistani who received the Liberty Medal for her courageous crusade to educate girls. They also are insulting to others who risk their lives daily to fight for human rights in repressive regimes around the globe.

Of course we are lucky to live in America. Of course we are grateful for our constitutional guarantees, including the right of free speech. But to throw that in the face of Malala Yousafzai, who does not enjoy similar rights in her own country, is a little like saying, "Nah nah nah, I'm free and you aren't!"

Would you walk up to a paraplegic and say, "I'm so lucky I can walk"? Would you tell a homeless person, "I'm so lucky I have a warm home and loving family"? Would you visit a friend with cancer and proclaim, "I'm so lucky I'm healthy"?

Yes, there are people who say such things. As a cancer survivor, I can attest to having been on the receiving end of the latter. (Those of us who have battled the Big C often compare notes about the most insulting reaction to our diagnosis.) But such words are usually said in private, not thrown in the face of the person who is suffering.

Most importantly, however, the political heritage that we enjoy as Americans should not be used to brag about how wonderful we are. Rather, we should use our great good fortune to help empower those around the world who do not enjoy such liberty.

Once again, Malala Yousafzai has taught us an important lesson.