Music aside, it can’t be said that Insane Clown Posse aren’t smart. Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope have built an empire out of goofy under-produced horror rap, building up a stable of other artists, and presenting their own annual festival, the Gathering of the Juggalos. It was at the 17th annual incarnation of the festival that the duo announced that next year, their fans, or Juaggalos, will descend on Washington D.C. for a march on the nation’s capitol.
Unlike the million man march, which was called in 1995 by Louis Farrakhan, this won’t be a march for African Americans. The march will be a protest of sorts, however. In 2011, the FBI described Juggalos as a “loosely organized hybrid gang” in their National Gang Threat Assessment that year. ICP filed a lawsuit against the FBI, but that lawsuit was dismissed in 2014, with a judge saying that acts by police agencies using the 2011 report didn’t fall under government responsibilities. The two were given a chance to appeal last year.
The march is scheduled for September 16th, 2017. It will start at the Lincoln Memorial and end at the Washington Monument, where ICP will “explain who they are.” Violent J apparently doesn’t know what to expect. “”We don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “We could totally embarrass ourselves, and there could be 25 people [who show up to protest].” However, the duo will hold a free concert that weekend at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, VA. Unfortunately, unlike Limp Bizkit’s Sunoco concert, Jiffy Lube Live is a 25,000-person concert venue, not an actual Jiffy Lube. The fans will also be treated to a picnic the day after the march.
And we’ve bought this up before, while we’re no fans of ICP’s music, their fans shouldn’t be classified as a gang any more than black metal enthusiasts should be. Discrimination is discrimination, and whether it’s wearing corpse paint or clown makeup, the ramifications of this could be chilling. There are much larger problems happening in the world, but it’ll be interesting to watch how this goes down.
[via Rolling Stone]
