Speaker only expressing personal opinion

To the editor

   As the co-advisor of the high school’s Amnesty International chapter I’m writing to correct a few misperceptions expressed in Charles Molinari’s recent letter to the editor about the club’s recent guest speaker, Sowore Omoyele.
   Contrary to his statement, no tax dollars were spent on this guest speaker. Like most extracurricular activities at the high school, Amnesty receives no funding from the Board of Education. In fact, his speech was funded by a bake sale.
   It was clear to everyone in attendance at the assembly that Mr. Omoyele was expressing his opinion and not making unequivocal statements of fact.
   The speech focused on human rights abuses in Nigeria and the difficulty he and others have had in trying to stop them. His viewpoint is that part of the blame for human rights abuses in Nigeria falls on the world community, which allows Nigeria to sell the country’s natural resources out from under its citizens to multinational corporations. He believes that many governments, including the United States, turn a blind eye to this exploitation in pursuit of profits.
   Many of the students in attendance clearly disagreed with some of the speaker’s conclusions and in their critical questions provided the "balance" that Mr. Molinari seeks.
   In fact, if we were to strive for absolute balance, instead of inviting Mr. Ferguson to speak for 45 minutes, we would give the government of Nigeria 40 minutes to explain why it was acceptable to torture Mr. Omoyele and the congressman the final five minutes to tell the students something they already know — that the United States has done some wonderful things for freedom and democracy around the world.
   When Mr. Ferguson spoke to my government and politics course in the fall, he asserted a variety of political beliefs on abortion, gun control and Iraq. Just as in the case of Mr. Omoyele’s comments, I didn’t think a rebuttal speaker was necessary.
   Let’s give our juniors and seniors some credit. They recognized his words for what they were: his opinion.
   Finally, to correct one final implication in Mr. Molinari’s letter: Mr. Omoyele’s comments about the U.S. government’s posture against Iraq, North Korea and Iran were anything but a defense of these governments and their human rights abuses. No one in the auditorium on Jan. 6 could possibly have come to that conclusion.

Bob Fenster
Hillsborough High School