April 14, 2008
Woman Arrested for Dancing at the Jefferson Memorial
The D.C.-based libertarian blogosphere is up in arms today over the Saturday night arrest of D.C. resident Brooke Oberwetter at the Jefferson Memorial. The story goes like this: a group of about 20 nerdy libertarian wonk types gathered at midnight on Saturday for a sort of flash mob at the memorial to celebrate the birthday of their favorite founding father. They gathered at the memorial, each with an iPod, to dance together while wearing headphones.
In the video above, you can watch the group as they quietly danced around the memorial (which, to be clear, is open to the public 24 hours a day, according to its web site). A U.S. Park Police officer can then be seen approaching the dancers and telling them to leave.
The second video, posted below, shows the dancers arguing with Park Police officers about why they're being asked to leave. They say they were quietly dancing with headphones on to celebrate Jefferson's birthday, and that they weren't breaking any laws (which, as far as we can tell, they indeed were not). Toward the end of the video, you can see Oberwetter, 28, being handcuffed and taken into custody. Where was Kevin Bacon when they needed him?
Oberwetter's compatriots have been quick to cry foul, and to point out the arrest's inherent ironies. Radley Balko writes:
Of course, the real irony here is that all of this happened at the Jefferson Memorial, in observance of Jefferson's birthday. Go out to celebrate the birth of the most hardcore, anti-authoritarian of the Founding Fathers, get hauled off in handcuffs. The photo's almost poetry, isn't it? One of history's most articulate critics of abuse of state authority looks on as a park police cop uses his elbow to push a female arrestee into one of said critic's memorial pillars.Naturally, much of the local libertarian crowd is seriously, vocally upset about what they see as an abuse of police power against one of their own. Especially disturbing is the part of the story that Oberwetter seems to have been arrested mostly because she asked the officer who told her to leave which rules or laws she and her friends were breaking. A Facebook group called "Free the Jefferson 1!" has already popped up. Julian Sanchez has the most sane response we've seen so far:
But they could have anticipated mayhem! There could have been droves of other revelers on the way! They might have been plannign to vandalize the monument! Uh, I guess that's possible. But it seems like like reasonable people could have walked up to someone, asked "Hey, what's going on here?", then rolled their eyes at the weird kids and let them finish with their fifteen minutes of silliness.Exactly. It may have a frivolous event thrown together by a group of people who were more likely to overreact to being told to move along by police than others. But it was also just a group of people who were quietly dancing while wearing headphones, and there just wasn't call for the way park police reacted, either. All they wanted to do was dance!
Oberwetter was released after being held for several hours.
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Please tell me this woman has some lawsuit $$$ coming her way, FALSE ARREST!!!!
They're pickin' up the prisoners
And puttin em in a pen
And all she wants to do is dance, dance
Rebels been rebels
Since I don't know when
And all she wants to do is dance!
Totally uncalled for, they were college kids having a good time. Park Police in the wrong...
Libertarianism, iPods, bad dancing, Thomas Jefferson. Yup, all stuff white people like.
Hoo boy. Yet another feather in the cap for the NPP... I don't think we've heard the last of this one.
Has NOTHING been learned from the girl with the french fry? Park Police are gonna get negative media from this, as can be seen from this post already. They were doing NOTHING illegal.
Later, the Park Policeman invited himself over to her apartment for an apres-arrest nightcap, showing a blantant disregard for her third amendment rights.
You know, "read these walls!" just doesn't have the same ring as "don't taze me bro!"
That being said, Park Police-WTF?
I appreciate the midnight dancing, really. But technically, doesn't the mall "close" at 11:30PM? (in the same way parks everywhere are open dawn to dusk). (http://www.nps.gov/thje/planyourvisit/hours.htm)
I mean, technically, the officer was within his rights, as they were trespassing.
PR-wise, though, perhaps not the wisest choice.
I'm gonna go ahead and inject race into this discussion, because it seems like only White people just openly defy the police and basically beg to be arrested like this over some nonsense like Jefferson's birthday. I listened to the video and the guy with the camera is saying how this isn't the America that Jefferson envisioned and he's right; if we had the America that Jefferson envisioned I would still be a member of the "Motisa tribe" and bringing Monkey and Hillman goblets of Carlo Rossi on demand.
As a Black man, when the cops ask/tell me to do something I get to steppin'. I don't ask any questions or point out how wrong they are, I just do what I'm told and hope to avoid a Rodney King-style beatdown or a Prince Jones-style getting my ass filled with more hot lead than a pencil.
Were the cops wrong? Of course they were; but everyone knows that if you fuck with the bull, you get the horns.
The NPP has no sense of humor.
oops...that's just when rangers are there...
rugbykate-
Didn't you just contradict yourself by posting this link: http://www.nps.gov/thje/planyourvisit/hours.htm
It says on the website that, 'The public may visit the Thomas Jefferson Memorial 24 hours a day. However Rangers are on duty to answer questions from 9:30 am to 11:30 pm daily.' But maybe that is why the Park Rangers wouldn't answer any of their questions, since it was past 11:30pm...
While I do feel that it is utterly absurd that they got arrested, I cannot help but laugh at listening to this kid give his commentary about the state of america. THIS IS THE GREATEST INJUSTICE EVER! RON PAUL, SAVE ME!!!
Thank you, Hillrat, for reminding us of one of the priveledges of being White in America. I definately agree that, as a Black person, I wouldn't dare try my luck and confront the officer in that type of situation. The cards are NOT in my favor.
what a bunch of d-bags!
Wow, Hillman. I'm sure glad you weren't marching with Dr. King in the South.
That's some fine police work there, Lou.
Jeez, the NPP is getting really good at stepping in it.
would it be too much to ask to have the camera work be a little less nausea-inducing?
way to go though, park police. thank god you've saved us all from a bunch of dancing libertarians. i hope this is good practice for the flash mobs of DFL performance art that will be working their way down from minnesota any day now...
@demonfafa
It's Rat, not Man; and I specifically referred to getting arrested over some, ". . . nonsense like Jefferson's birthday."
I think we can agree that there's a pretty big difference between marching for the right to vote, etc. and a bunch of college students celebrating the birthday of a slave-owning hypocrite.
Fun fact, I actually went to high school with Brooke back in Texas. Besides that, this is total bull, they were all well within their rights to be there.
Sorry Hillrat about the name mixup. Obviously I can't read.
But what difference does it make if it's marching for civil rights or just the right to make an ass of yourself in public. To me, they're one and the same.
Oh yeah, and the Constitution seems to not see the difference either.
@demonfafa
No doubt you can't read (just jokes) because if you could, you would have seen I also wrote, "Were the cops wrong? Of course they were . . ."
I'm not saying these kids weren't totally within their rights to be at the Jefferson Memorial doing what they were doing. My point is that the desire to challenge cops, over what is IMHO a total non-issue, is strictly the province of White people and more specifically, college educated White people that enjoy the social privilege that goes with their education.
I know White people hate hearing about their privilege; it makes them uncomfortable and forces them to think about things they would rather not think about it, but it's a fact of life. Just like it's a fact of life that when I'm talking to a cop, if I want to continue living I'd best choose my words and actions very carefully.
demonfafa - So you feel that protesting the District's lack of voting representation and my public advocacy of uropathy on the steps of the Capitol are on the same level of importance? If so, we're always looking for new members to help "mop up" after our Watersports Enthusiasts for Equal Representation for the District (WEE(RD)) meetings.
i just want to say..that while my dancing has never won an award..i have not as yet been arrested for it... so ... for the record....THIS time ...it wasnt me!
xoxo
The entire time I thought this was about librarians, not libertarians. I was like, aw, that's cute, dancing librarians.
2100 'Diggs' on digg.com making it the most popular story there at this moment. Linking to this article
when i was studying abroad in Vienna, Austria, I saw kids smoking bongs on monument grounds, playing drums, even drunk punk kids pissing.
isn't it funny that Austria is more chill than America in that way?
"things that make you go hmmmmmmm"
...what?
"My point is that the desire to challenge cops, over what is IMHO a total non-issue, is strictly the province of White people and more specifically, college educated White people that enjoy the social privilege that goes with their education."
Wuite often that's the case.
But in DC the cop is considerably more likely to be black. And anecdotally I've noticed a fair number cops much more permissive of the antics of black citizens than they are of whites.
I understand your overall point, Rat, but apparently you manage to always get the white racist cops. That, in a very progressive city with a majority black police force.
Yeah, yeah the police overreacted. But in their defense:
1. The park closes at midnight, so they actually didn’t have a right to be there.
2. The kid with the camera was a world class douchebag. It is obvious the only reason they went there was to try and aggravate the cops to overreact so they could launch into their Ron Paulesque tirades.
Aren't there small wooden signs at the memorials (Lincoln and Jefferson) which say "Silence and Respect"? These people may be respectful but definitely not silent, so the Park Police can certainly ask them to leave. If you don't like to be removed when dancing at the Jefferson Memorial, you should start a movement to remove the signs first. You can't change the rule of the game during the game, in my opinion.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Okay, so which part of that is not as important as "marching for civil rights?" The right of the people to peaceably assemble. This is the core of all forms of demonstration - including the marching for civil rights.
Every protest, every refusal to move from a public place, every attempt to get something through the thick skulls in the Congress and Senate, starts with the right of the people peaceably to assemble. And if assembling in Celebration is not condoned, will assembly in protest be as protected?
And since "race" has already been brought up, lets address it. Yes, the Constitution, and all the rights it gives to the people - and all the powers it denies the government, was put together by land-owning, slave-owning, white, educated men. And for the longest time, the narrow scope of many people felt it should be limited to only protecting those very people.
Fortunately the country has matured since these days (for the most part, sure there are racists, and supremists ON ALL SIDES), but the beauty of the country is that they are entitled to live and die here, hate and love here, and peaceably assemble here.
"I definately agree that, as a Black person, I wouldn't dare try my luck and confront the officer in that type of situation. The cards are NOT in my favor."
Have you ever actually been to the Jefferson? Perhaps the most under-surveillance spot in town. Do you really think you are going to get your ass cop-kicked on that much video surveillance? If you did, you'd end up being the YouTube superstar of the year.
And, um, at least one of the cops in question looked like a black female. So I'm not real sure that we can play a race card here.
You probably have a completely valid point on a back road in Alabama.
But, really, with a black cop on the steps of the Jefferson?
"Yes, the Constitution, and all the rights it gives to the people - and all the powers it denies the government, was put together by land-owning, slave-owning, white, educated men."
You forgot overwhelmingly Christian and straight.
Yes, I know, Jefferson and a couple others were more deistic, but by and large they were almost all at least public Christians, and apparently had no problem with the laws most new states had condemning gay people to death.
From the Examiner:
"The payoff of addressing educational and workforce development obstacles, according to Smith: A growing tax base, reduced social services and child-poverty costs, and a significant improvement in the ability of children and D.C. Public Schools to succeed."
But...won't Gentrification ultimately produce the same results?
Hillman, the "Religion" card hadn't been played, so I wasn't going to open that can of worms. Also the subject of heterosexuality and homosexuality also wasn't mentioned, so I figured I'd keep that out of the mix as well.
I think the point everyone is making is the scary step things are taking. The Jefferson Memorial (per its own website) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I am sure 10 years ago, the activity of the other evening would have gone without problem. In the "Post-apocalyptic-they-are-coming-for-us-everyone-is-out-to-blow-up-America" time we live, any group gathering is going to be questioned by "fear," not by rationality.
All these policies are being put into place (and have been put into place) under the guise of providing a little security at the cost of a little liberty. And even the Founding Fathers were opposed to such an idea...
Thoſe who would give up Essential Liberty to purchaſe a little Temporary Safety, deſerve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Stated by Benjamin Franklin in letter, but not necessary of his devising.
Oh this will be all over reason magazine. The female suspect was a former contributor to boot. I met Brooke once and was impressed with her intelligence and her devotion to fighting the DC smoking ban on principal. (She was a non smoker then.) Point is, despite the implicit jackasshattery involved in dancing at a monument at midnight while wearing headphones, she isn't just some stupid drunk GW kid. She's an intelligent and principled person with questionable dancing skills and judgment. Free speech, yeah, yeah yeah, but there are typically restrictions allowed for time, place, and manner of speech. If a teenage tourist did this at 2 pm, we wouldn't be having this non-conversation.
eddiebosox-
As was already establised both in the post, and earlier in this thread, the Jefferson Memorial is open 24 hours a day:
http://www.nps.gov/thje/planyourvisit/hours.htm
Remember - your rights are only important if you're using them seriously! If you can't be mature with them, I'll take them away and you'll be sent to your room without supper!
They were being quite loud and disruptive. You could really hear the squeaking of their shoes echo. Trying to make a public show and a youtube video is not appropriate for a memorial and it takes away from other people enjoyment. Personal liberty ends when you encroach on someone else's liberty.
RS1433:
Is that a joke or are you serious?
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Okay, so which part of that is not as important as "marching for civil rights?" The right of the people to peaceably assemble. This is the core of all forms of demonstration - including the marching for civil rights.
Well, I'm sure that the First Amendment Absolutist Society (FAtAS) will be happy to know you're willing to join. Tell me - are you going to start by