Footage of the Jefferson Memorial Dance Arrests [Source: Adam Kokesh]
It’s rare that dance becomes the central tool in a battle over civil liberties, though there’s actually a lot of history relevant to that topic, but the staged arrest of silent dancers at the Jefferson Memorial seems like a mixed bag of issues and approaches to social change.
The DCist link above breaks down the history pretty well and leads us to Jason Talley who was apparently an organizer of the first such event in 2008. Now the cause has its own blog at Thomas Jefferson Dance Party.
At this stage I’m just learning about this issue and don’t have a really strong opinion. I will say trying to get into aggressive philosophical and legal discussions with police officers when they’ve clearly told you what’s going to happen is kind of ridiculous and clearly a showboating maneuver. But arresting people for moving around silently in a public space also seems pretty ridiculous.
I’ve seen some pretty brutal arrests at demonstrations and, given that these demonstrators are clearly seasoned at setting up a situation for media consumption, I can’t really call these arrests police brutality. And, I hate to say this about people motivated to fight for civil liberties, but I don’t think this is such a good look for their cause though I assume it will keep the issue in the spotlight.
Note: the video above restarts at around 6:00.
Facebook Page: DANCE PARTY @ TJ’S!!!
Related All World Dance Coverage:
Dance Protest Shuts Down Jefferson Memorial