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UVM professor and former South Burlington councilor urges condemnation of hate speech
Summary
Megan Emery, a University of Vermont professor and former South Burlington city councilor, told a Town Meeting TV forum that recent July incidents in South Burlington illustrate how hateful speech can spread and urged leaders and residents to 'condemn hate speech in all its forms.'
Megan Emery, a professor of French at the University of Vermont and a former South Burlington city councilor, spoke at a Town Meeting TV forum about recent incidents she described as hate speech and hate acts in the community. She said her scholarship on memory and plural France informs her view that unchecked hateful rhetoric can lead to violence and lasting harm.
Emery described her approach to teaching and civic engagement, citing courses on World War II memory and multiethnic France, and argued that communities should respond to hateful speech with "good speech" rather than silence. "You condemn it. You condemn hate speech in all its forms," she said, urging local leaders to speak clearly and consistently when incidents occur.
