Today I saw people arrested for dancing. This didn’t happen in a foreign country with limited freedoms- this happened here in America. At Jefferson Memorial, a couple held each other as they swayed gently- only to be ripped apart by police and separately arrested. Onlookers jigged in protest, only to be violently arrested themselves. What is happening to this country?
Back in April of 2008, Mary Brooke Oberwetter was arrested at the memorial for dancing. She sued for wrongful arrest, and lost. The judge decided that it wasn’t okay to dance at the memorial.
The fact is, this should never have been an issue. The first cop who arrested Mary Oberwetter was being in intolerant, bigoted, and overzealous idiot. She was certainly within her rights to be dancing, and to question that is to undermine the very ideals set forth partly by Thomas Jefferson himself (of whom the memorial was commemorating).
The judgment against her lawsuit was ludicrous and absolutely a violation of rights. The park is a functional public park, and as such any judgment against dancing is a caricature of justice.
The fact that the cops in this video decided to continue supporting the (illegal) ‘anti-dance’ judgment just serves to further embarrass the nation and it’s justice system.
-Phoenix Godwin
5-31-2011
