Rebel of the Week: Adam Kokesh
June 1st, 2011
He's actually not a bad dancer.
Arrested for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial? It would be funny if it wasn’t true.
On Saturday, in defiance of an unconstitutional ban on dancing at public monuments, a silent flash mob erupted at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC. The move was to protest the decision by US District Judge John D. Bates to ban dancing at Washington’s monuments, stating that it wasn’t how Jefferson should be memorialized. In response to the flash mob, Park Police arrested the dance troupe, led by political activist Adam Kokesh, host of the syndicated radio-show “Adam vs. The Man” and Iraq War vet, for “demonstrating without a permit”, and were held for five hours before being released. While this was bad enough, a viral video was released showing some of the protestors , in what can only be described as an obvious display of police brutality.
Dancing, even if you are the worst dancer known to man, is a free act of expression, which last I checked is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Banning it as a “demonstration” is bad enough, but the Gestapo-like reactions of the Park Rangers was uncalled for. Thankfully, the Park Rangers’ Office of Personal Responsibility is opening an investigation into whether or not the police were too aggressive in their handling of the situation.
As for Mr. Kokesh, he is planning to return to the Memorial on Saturday, June 4th, with what he hopes is a larger group of people, in defiance of the ban.
