Federalist Paupers

Free The Jefferson 1!

I’d imagine that most readers of this blog have already heard of Brooke Oberwetter — aka, the “Jefferson 1″ — who was arrested last week at the Jefferson Memorial. Ms. Oberwetter and fellow Jeffersonians organized a brief, midnight dance party to celebrate TJ’s birthday, which the national park police broke up. By all accounts, the event was perfectly legal and the dancers went well out of their way to not disturb any other visitors (in was midnight for crissakes, and they were using their ipods).

It’s still a little unclear what she’s been charged with, but it appears that it essentially boils down to “talking back to a cop.” The American Spectator — to whom Oberwetter has contributed in the past — has the most comprehensive story I’ve seen so far on the matter.

I do want to go on record as saying, however, that there’s something that rubs me the wrong way about this whole thing. The lecture the cameraman of the video gives the police is just a little too eager and prepared for my taste. I wonder if the attendees suspected the cops might overreact and wanted to catch them doing it (and had already generated a catchy slogan with accompanying graphics). I hope I’m wrong about that, though it wouldn’t exonerate the police for some pretty shameful behavior.

04/24/08 — Update: Through my correspondence with Joey, I have decided to retract my earlier skepticism. Free the Jefferson 1!

Posted by Tom in Liberty and/or Security

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Liberty and/or Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “Free The Jefferson 1!”

Apollo says:

There is a certain point of weirdness past which you need to be prepared to explain yourself to others, less they come to the conclusion that you are not simply weird, but actively malevolent. This is well past that point.

If things are as the dancers allege, I probably wouldn’t have even bothered them. But they’re getting a little wrapped up in grandiose language and seem unwilling to admit that what they were doing was fundamentally strange and thus subject to increased scrutiny. Social norms were violated here.

Also, if a group of 25 requires a permit and “about 20″ people without a permit start dancing while a dozen unrelated other people are standing around, how fast are we to expect cops to perform a headcount and separate the weird libertarians from those being amused by the weird libertarians? I’m not a big fan of requiring permits for groups of 25, but if you know a group of 25 requires a permit and you bring in a group of “about 20″ and dance about, perhaps you should be prepared for unprepared authorities whose headcount is not as accurate as your own.

April 15th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

Tom says:

There is a certain point of weirdness past which you need to be prepared to explain yourself to others, less they come to the conclusion that you are not simply weird, but actively malevolent.

That’s laying it on a bit thick, but you’re absolutely right that the dancers’ indignant refusal to admit they were behaving unusually — harmlessly, humorously and in a way that did not justify arrest — didn’t do them any favors. I don’t think the camera guy actually said it, but you got the distinct feeling that anything short of having the cops join them enthusiastically would have given him cause to bitch.

April 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm

R.J. Lehmann says:

Were we ASKED to explain what we were doing, no one would have any compunction about doing so. In fact, even though we WEREN’T asked what we were doing, we still attempted to explain it to them — that we were there to celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s birthday with a brief, quiet dance party.

The fact is that U.S. Park Police saw a handful of people moving in a strange way, and immediately ordered them, and everyone around them, to leave. They started shoving immediately, and would not listen to a word we had to say.

The arrest itself came specifically because the person asked what she had done wrong. That was her crime. She was told to leave, and she asked why. That’s why they put her in cuffs.

April 15th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

Tom says:

RJ,

Again — based on your article and video you linked to — it seems to me that the police did not have cause to arrest Ms. Oberwetter.

Question for you: Did you or any of the dancers expect the police to overreact? There’s just something about the tone of the questions the cameraman asks of the cop that makes me wonder if this was less of a surprise than some have made it out to be (though still unjustified).

April 15th, 2008 at 10:52 pm

drunk patriot says:

Well Tommy, these are educated who know their rights, who live and breathe it, and they are always prepared to advocate for fundamental human rights.

Unfortunately, they are a rare exception int hat regard.

Madison, Franklin etc said we needed a nation full of people like this to maintain liberty.

And this is almost all we have, which is scary.

April 16th, 2008 at 12:01 am

Tom says:

Well Tommy, these are educated who know their rights, who live and breathe it, and they are always prepared to advocate for fundamental human rights.

I had no idea it was taboo to question those who question authority.

April 16th, 2008 at 8:21 am

Hubbard says:

There’s a long tradition in America of provoking authorities to test the constitutionality of laws, as happened in Plessy v. Ferguson (which tested segregation) or Griswold v. Connecticut (which tested birth control bans) or even Morse v. Frederick (the Bong hits 4 Jesus school free speech case).

It’s certainly a useful tactic to overturn laws or to highlight abuses. There’s nothing wrong with intentionally pushing the envelope—so long as you’re willing to accept the consequences—and the Jefferson 1 matter seems well prepared enough for me to suspect deliberate planning. It’s understandable why activists don’t want to admit that they’re intentionally waving red flags in front of bulls, but thank God they do so.

April 16th, 2008 at 11:57 am

Joey says:

Tom,

We did not plan on police action at all. Our original intent was to meet at the TJ Memorial, dance around for about ten minutes, and then head over to a nearby bar for a few celebratory drinks. We did not expect trouble, nor did we attempt to provoke it. The brief “dance party” was essentially just a meeting location and a quick opportunity to show our respects to the big man and have a little fun (albeit wacky).

Also, Drunken Patriot is right. The camera man, a good friend, is a very intelligent and articulate libertarian. I’ve never know him to have trouble expressing himself, particularly when he believes that an injustice has occurred.

April 16th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

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