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The Juggalo March On Washington

On September 16th, thousands of people national mall for their group's rights. While this is a somewhat common occurrence, this group is anything but ordinary. It is the juggalo march on washington, and they are fired up. The juggalos have been facing discrimination from the national government for a number of years and they are sick of it. With painted faces, faygo and signs, they marched and down the mall, proclaiming their right to freedom of expression.
The juggalos are fans of the band Insane Clown Posse. Hailing from Detroit and calling themselves "the most hated band on earth," ICP's music is violent and aggressive, earning the term "horror rap". The juggalos have an undying love for ICP, attending shows and juggalo rallies, getting tattoos of "hatchetman" the group's logo, painting their faces like the clowns, and drinking lots of faygo pop. They stem mostly from lower to middle class working populations who have troubled childhoods. Many fans find the family they never had in the group, who is open, loving and supportive. They have created a culture of acceptance and support, taking in anyone who is willing to paint their face and be sprayed with faygo. The band's members, Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J fully support the group, organizing the annual gathering of the juggalos, and helping out those in need. As J told Rolling Stone "You wanna call us something, call us a family, because a lot of us don't have a family and all we've got is each other. This shit is real for us, man."

 Back in 2011, juggalos were included in the FBI national gang assessment report as a "loosely-organised hybrid gang". This distinction came as a shock to the band and the group as a whole, as this is not something they considered themselves to be. The report cited "sporadic, disorganized, and individualistic" criminal activity. The juggalos claim that the actions of a few people who are associated with the group have been unfairly attributed to the group as a whole. 

 Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J have been working with the ACLU to get the gang distinction removed from their fangroup. In 2014 they sued the FBI in Michigan, but the case was thrown out for not having legal standing. In 2015 the ACLU successfully appealed the case and oral debates are set for October 11th. Their lawsuit is calling for the complete removal of the gang classification.

 This is the first time the U.S. government as targeted fans of a band, genera or anyone associated with a music group as being part of an organized gang. The distinction has caused problems for many of the fans who are more public about their support of the band. People shared testimonies of  being searched by police for wearing hatchetman shirts, facing discrimination at jobs, not being able to serve in the military due to gang association. One woman talked about how her ex husband used her "gang affiliation" to gain full custody of their children. Additionally gang association often causes longer sentences for minor criminal offences.

 The march ended with a concert in front of the lincoln memorial. This was not Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J's first choice, but there was not a single concert hall in DC, even ones with only 100 seats, that would host them for the night due to their gang label. So it ended where it started, on the hallowed ground  made famous by Forest Gump, MLK Jr, and now the juggalos.

Comments

  1. Ericka ForemanOctober 6, 2017 at 7:39 AM

    This is a good summary of the events, but I'm left wondering what you think of them?

    ReplyDelete

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