Actor and social activist Danny is special. He’s similar to Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte and Dick Gregory. Like them, at the zenith of his career, when it would have been safer and more financially beneficial to keep his mouth sealed, he has not hesitated to weigh in on the important social issues of that his day, including apartheid, racism and militarism.

As a country, we say we pride ourselves on our freedom of speech, granting full protection to the expression of unpopular ideas. What we are seeing with Glover and other Hollywood stars who opposed our invasion of Iraq is that some people believe in free speech—as long as it agrees with their viewpoint.

Over the years, many Black entertainers have made buffoons of themselves. James Brown, “Soul Brother No.1,” should be called “Sold Out Brother No. 1.” Even though Brown endorsed Richard M. Nixon for president in 1972, he disclosed in his autobiography, “James Brown: Godfather of Soul” [page 171] that “I don’t vote. I’ve never voted. In my life.” More recently, singer Brian McKnight revealed on Tom Joyner’s syndicated radio program that he doesn’t vote. And that’s why I’ll never buy his CDs or attend his concerts.

When someone such as Danny Glover decides to vote and speak out on U.S. foreign policy, many of those who proclaim to be freedom-loving United States citizens suddenly want to limit what he can say.

In fact, some conservatives have been urging their followers to put pressure on the telephone carrier MCI to drop Glover as a pitchman. Never mind that the series of ads had just about completed their scheduled run. Never mind that the commercials have been extremely successful.

In addition to being opposed to U.S. action in Iraq, Glover has also come under fire for remarks considered sympathetic to Cuban president Fidel Castro.

Conservative organizers of www.marchonhollywood.com urge their followers to contact Glover and other anti-war celebrities to register their dismay. Their hit list includes Belafonte, Martin Sheen, Samuel L. Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Sheryl Crow, Richard Gere, Woody Harrelson, Tim Robins, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, Ron Howard, Spike Lee, Madonna, Sean Penn, Carl Reiner, Oliver Stone, Sharon Stone, the Dixie Chicks, Barbara Streisand, Laurence Fishburne, Robert Redford and Susan Sarandon, among others.

As a result of this movement, some of the fan postings on Web sites have become more vitriolic. The Danny Glover message board on www.the-movie-times.com, for example, carried the following comments:

“I put your movies in the same trash bin as my Dixie Chicks CDS,” says a writer who identified himself as “Texan.” He continues, “I told MCI to take a hike and why.”

David writes, “I hope that Danny Glover, his family and all of you out there that support him contract a flesh-eating disease and slowly die in agony and pain… Please pass the morphine.”

Harold ends his tirade with, “…Oh, I wrote MCI and Foxx, CNN about you. Just trying to help.”

The Associated Press reports that after receiving three dozen complaints about actress Susan Sarandon’s anti-war views, the United Way of Tampa Bay, Fla., canceled a speech she had been scheduled to make to inspire volunteerism.

No one of note has called for a boycott of movies or speeches of Right-wing actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis. According to frontpagemag.com, Willis said during the last election, “If you guys vote for Al Gore, you’re out of your minds… Gore’s a knucklehead…”

When Martin Sheen, as part of his activities with “Artists United to Win Without War,” urged people to contact elected leaders via telephone, fax and e-mail, the conservative Web site, newsmax.com, declared, “Now it’s time to see if Sheen and his ilk can take what they dish out.” It gave contact numbers “to tell the ‘artists’ what you think of them.”

It’s time for progressives to fight back. The first step is to put MCI on notice that if they cave in to this kind of pressure, it will be at their peril. You can do that by logging on to Web site www.mci.com and clicking customer service or telephoning customer service at (800) 444-3333. If you’re an MCI customer, tell them if Danny goes, so will your business.

You can also tune out Clear Channel, the owners of more than 1,000 radio stations in the nation, and the pro-Bush rallies it sponsors. And you can tune into some of the chat rooms on the Internet and provide a counterpoint to these unknowledgeable meanderings.

If Danny Glover can exhibit courage by standing up, the least we can do is to support him by making our opinions count. That’s how we can become a lethal weapon.