Hood rule meets Freedom of Speech

On my drive to work I caught a conversation on the radio concerning the beating of a young woman in New York. She is suing the designer of a shirt she purchased because it directly led to her beating. What did the shirt say? (Shawn don't read) Obama is my Slave. Four supporters of Obama were offended by the shirt and kindly took their frustration out on this woman. So the question was posed to the listeners, and I too will pose to my readers, who is at fault here? The woman for wearing the shit, the designer of the shirt or the girls who delivered the beat down?

MY ANSWER/VIEW
In short, I believe it is everyone except for the designers fault. That's the easy/short answer.
Let me first start off by saying that I'm not defending the designer or his first amendment rights here. Even though he has his own opinion, as my Logic professor once told the class, every one has an opinion, doesn't mean they are entitled to that opinion. Our opinions become dangerous not only to ourselves but to others who get caught up in the reasoning we have. If someone were to tell a child that the sky was brown, are they entitled to continue to tell that child that? Or should someone correct them because this child will grow up not knowing and looking like a fool? The t-shirt was done in bad taste, was done to get a reaction, stir the pot and let's face it, it did its job. The ow nest for me should be put on the individual for wearing such a shirt. In a place (she was in Union Square in NYC not some KKK wooded area) where you will come across minorities who still feel the pain of racism, the affects of slavery and are still looked upon as second class at best, someone of minimum education (she was a grad student) should have expected a less than positive reaction. She chose to wear this $60 t-shirt around, so she has to deal with the consequences.

I'm not trying to take away blame from the women who lead the beat down on her. Hell, hood rules state, someone is disrespecting your people you have to represent, and represent they did. It was noted on the radio and I agree, hood rule is what got most of the prisoners in jail locked up, because hood rules and the American justice system are rarely on one accord. Should they be arrested and put away for assault, absolutely. Do I think they did the wrong thing? Absolutely. Do I understand and feel some sympathy when they go to jail? Absolutely. It comes a time when we have to learn to use our words positively and take responsibility for our actions.

To wrap this up because I need to get to work, the designer is an asshole for printing up this t-shirt (heard there are more like it if not worst) but legally I don't think he is at fault. At fault was the idiot for buying the shirt and not expecting negative feedback and the animals who attacked her for her views instead of trying to reason with her (I guess they figured if they couldn't win an argument they would win a fight, also hood rule but also falls in the category of another rule, you figure it out)