Google News 09/06: Venue denies service to interracial couple

America is the most politically and socially liberated society in the world today: perhaps in all of human history. Citizens of this country are guaranteed certain rights by their government, such as the freedoms of speech and participation in the free market, and enjoy an open and inclusive social space which allows each person to live by their own principles and life values.

There’s a tension that exists, however, between the rights of one person and the freedoms of another. Our individual mindset might preclude us from interacting with other people in certain ways — but what if those interactions are part of another person’s rights? In these cases, the government is responsible for determining which consideration is more important, either by appealing to a specific interpretation of the law, or by making an argument for the choice that maximizes the greatest common good.

One such tension is on display in today’s Google News article, which reports on a Mississippi venue that allegedly denied service to an interracial couple. The dichotomy here is between the individual freedom of the business owner and the right of the patrons. The former, we feel, should be allowed to associate commercially with whomever they want; at the same time, we feel equally as strongly that the latter has a right not to be discriminated…