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Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 11:14:27 -0500 (EST)
From: Dave Walker
To: Midwest Raves List
cc: Detroit Techno Mailing List <313@taz.hyperreal.com>
Subject: Detroit PD wants to abolish Detroit Parties (please read)
I still haven't gotten all the details yet, but Saturday night's party at
1515 Broadway (originally scheduled for 1315) was busted _hard_. Everyone
there was ticketed: adults for "loitering", minors for violating curfew.
The cops apparently forced everyone to the floor, searched everyone, asked
for ID, the whole third world police state trip.
We weren't there -- having read the silly scare piece in the Detroit News
the week before, we figured that the PD would pick this weekend to make a
big "show of force", and unfortunately we were right.
Channel 7 cameras were there as the bust took place, which indicates to me
that the PD had this planned as a media event from the very beginning.
The clip I saw showed officers with _guns drawn_ ordering people to the
floor. The report on the 11PM news of course followed the city's party
line to the letter: "this was an unsafe, overcrowded building, we found
drugs there", etc. They _did_ mention however, that no alcohol was found,
which makes the idea that they busted it because it was an illegal "blind
pig" very suspect. The cop on the news said "This organization is very
mobile -- they moved the party from another location down the street
earlier in the day to avoid us, but we found them anyway." Ha -- this
organization, as if party goers and organizers are some sort of sinister
Mafia-like cabal with a planning hierarchy and structure... whatever.
The other comments by the cops only confirmed how truly clueless they are
about the whole thing: how the parties were a "new phenomenon" they were
going to put a stop to, and how they were something for "out of towners"
(neglecting to mention, of course, how many of the DJ's and musicians
live and work in the city.
In a nutshell, thanks to a rash of sensational press coverage, the city
is coming down with both jackboots on _your right_ to freely assemble and
dance to the music of your choice outside of a club environment. I'm
going to get contact information later for officials at city hall and
police headquarters so that we can all make our views heard. If you've
ever attended a party in Detroit, or enjoyed music from a Detroit artist,
you need to speak up to preserve what we've built here.
Show them that there's more to life than busting parties and scarfing down
jelly donuts.
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dave walker, detroit art services _
marmoset@msen.com absolutely sweat, marie
