Americans Shouldn’t Have To Fear Recriminations For Speech

Here we go again. North Carolina is considering a version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act—the same kind of legislation that recently caused quite a stir in Indiana. Within hours of signing that bill, there were accusations of discrimination and threats of economic boycotts against the state. Pizzeria owners who shared their opinion about the ongoing public debate were threatened and had to go into hiding.

I was vividly reminded of my own family’s experience with the complexities of freedom. For the first several years of our exile from Cuba in Puerto Rico, when my father got home, the first thing he would do was close the kitchen window as he said: “Just in case.”