For those who aren't aware there was a Juggalo March on Washington, DC today to protest being placed on the FBI's "gang list". This designation means that anyone with an ICP or Psychopathic Records related tattoo, t-shirt, bumper sticker or Facebook profile can be labeled a gang member by local police departments. Fans of the group have lost jobs, lost custody of their children and have been given harsher sentences because of the music they like.
A few days ago on Howard Stern (September 13th I believe), ICP discussed sending letters to many musicians reaching out for support. They specifically mentioned reaching out to Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan among many more. Because it's ICP and they are considered a joke, only one personally replied (Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister).
After seeing the mass support from American artists of Pussy Riot during their horrific ordeal, I'm depressed that virtually no one is speaking out on behalf of ICP and more importantly their fans. Imagine being considered a gang because of what you listen to? It's pretty wrong if you think about it.
I guess I'm making this post to reach out to music fans about this issue. ICP are definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but that isn't the point here. People are being criminalized for the type of music they like and that is wrong.
What bums me out the most is that I haven't seen a single show of solidarity from other artists. Imagine if this happened to the Kiss Army, Slipknot Maggots, Beliebers or any other fanbase....it would be front page news.
ReasonTV did an excellent little video about this
I did catch this and it's great so thanks for sharing! Reason is an incredible outlet so it doesn't surprised me they covered this so well.
Their interview on Shade45's Sway In The Morning about this is pretty great too:
Seen that interview. They also did a great long form interview not too too long ago on Hot 97 with Ebro
And a tiny interview on Jim Norton and Sam Roberts Sirius show
They have been all over my feed lately, good on them and I hope the march got noticed and something positive comes of it