On November 2, 2002, a large group of police officers in tactical gear descended on a rave party in Racine, Wisconsin. The cops kicked in doors, dragged young people from bathroom stalls, threw others to the floor, and held dozens more at gunpoint.
The police issued more than 450 citations of $968 each to partygoers merely for attending an event where some attendees were breaking the state’s drug laws. Only three people were arrested on actual drug charges. With help from the ACLU, the city of Racine eventually dismissed the charges against all attendees who hadn’t yet pleaded guilty.
The trendy new drug throwing the media and politicians into hysterics was Ecstasy. Raves were the new, weird, and different dance parties where teenagers were allegedly taking this crazy sex drug. Cue the moral panic, political grandstanding, and ensuing aggressive crackdown. Prior to the raid in Racine, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware seemed particularly obsessed with rave parties. Politicians seemed to think that any party with techno music, pulsing lights, and neon inevitably degenerated into underage kids getting high on Ecstasy and engaging in mass orgies.
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1 comment:
And the legal reasoning behind this mass assault on citizens?
Actually, none. Zero. Ziltch.
"WE ARE THE POLICE!!!" is gaining them more and more respect every day.
I like how they are giving young kids a close up view of "public service" and engendering appreciation for the rule of law.
How many cops does it take to hold some dancing teenagers at gunpoint?
450 citations and only THREE drug charges? Not much crime in Racine, I imagine.
Keep creating new resentment. New enemies.
Cops are not promoting "law and order" any more --- they are contributing to the breakdown of it. And it is an irresistable wave of civil discontent you will regret later. Or sooner.
But you probably don't know, or pay attention to, the volumes of historical records that predict, without fail, the end result of what you do. In the meantime, the sheep can........
Keep cheering.
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