New details announced Wednesday concerning a civil rights rally slated for the National Mall later this year suggest the event could rival last week’s massively attended Women’s March with respect to numbers — the number of clowns, to be specific.
Insane Clown Posse, a Detroit-based rap group known for its carnival-themed lyrics and face-painted fans, doubled down this week on its plans to hold a “Juggalo March” in the nation’s capital Sept. 16.
“Juggalo” is a term given to die-hard fans of ICP’s music, effectively designating likeminded listeners not unlike labels applied decades earlier to Beatlemaniacs and Deadheads — albeit with a slight caveat courtesy of the FBI.
The inclusion of ICP’s fanbase in the 2011 report assembled by the bureau’s National Gang Intelligence Center has complicated matters for self-described Juggalos in the years since, and has resulted in “hundreds if not thousands of people subjected to various forms of discrimination, harassment and profiling,” according to the rap group.
Thousands of Juggalos are expected to descend on the National Mall later this year to protest being classified as criminals in addition to “standing up for their civil rights and the rights of others who have been oppressed or discriminated by reckless law enforcement agencies,” according to a website for the event launched on Wednesday this week.
“[T]he Juggalo Family must truly shine and show America and the world that we are not a gang, public menace, cult or any of the other untrue labels they have attempted to slap on us throughout the years. We must collectively show them that we truly are a family that is united by a shared love of music and fellowship,” the website says.
“We may be the outsiders, the misfits, the weirdos and the underdogs of the mainstream world, but as a result we have created our own world — one built on a rock-solid foundation of community, creativity, joy and love.”
Juggalos will meet near the Lincoln Memorial around 12 noon on the day of the event before marching to the Washington Monument and back, according to the website, where attendees will hear “speeches and testimonials from Juggalos who have been affected by the gang label.”
The group plans on holding a concert for fans the day after the march in nearby Bristow, Virginia. Face-paint is optional for either event.
The FBI’s 2011 report described Juggalos as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang” tied to criminal activity and violence including robberies and drug dealing. ICP sued the FBI in 2014 in a bid to have its fanbase recategorized, but a District Court judge ruled in the government’s favor last September. The group has since filed a notice of appeal in the Sixth Circuit.
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