[youtube]http://youtu.be/LVP2aD9W2YU[/youtube]
In 2011, the FBI classified rapping clown duo Insane Clown Posse as a gang. The group responded a year later by suing the FBI and setting up a website, juggalosfightback.com. It’s been a pretty quiet few years since then, but an article in the Associated Press reports that yesterday in a court, lawyers for the FBI said that juggalos have no right to sue the FBI and asked that the case be dismissed. Justice Department attorney Amy Powell stated that the government isn’t responsible for how police use the information in a report on gangs. “There is no general right of protection to a social association,” she stated.
Juggalos, for their part, said that because of the 2011 report, in which the FBI labeled ICP fans as a “loosely organized hybrid gang,” some were denied housing, lost custody of children and in once case, was told they couldn’t apply to the Army without removing or covering his Insane Clown Posse tattoos. Powell stated that there’s no right of protection for any gang. An attorney for the four fans asked the judge to keep the lawsuit alive, stating that the government’s report “went too far here.”
The ACLU earlier this year filed a lawsuit along with ICP, and provided a video update, which you can see above, on yesterday’s court dealings. It’s a little hysterical to watch the badly-filmed video with an older gentleman repeatedly saying “juggalo.” However, the gentleman in question, Legal Director of ACLU’s Michigan chapter Michael Steinberg, brings up a valid point in saying that the fault lies with the FBI. “THey can’t expect to tell the world that the Juggalos are a gang and then say, ‘Oh, it’s not our fault when your rights were violated.'”
A ruling is expected in the next two to three weeks.
