new orleans police threaten juggler

[imelven]

n.o.p.d. oppression of a juggler


ok this is a tough story, i have been here in new orleans for about two weeks working as a juggler and trying to figure out what it means to be a street entertainer.

among the pitches that i have worked is the world famous jackson square, it's my understanding that entertainers from around the world come to jackson square to do their shows and that everyone is allowed to set up there.

not so according to the new orleans police, which puts them at odds with the city at tourneys office.

in my adventures i have had chances to talk with the tarot readers in the square and they have had many legal battles with the police over the right to do their art and the right of any artist to set up in jackson square.

among them was a kind woman who had the legal document from the attorney to the police department and she was kind enough to let me run a copy off.

while i understand the role of law enforcement to protect the publics safety, i don't understand how one man juggling in the square endangers anyone, in fact i believe that i was within my rights and that the policeman who threatened me with arrest and used abusive language with me was violating my rights.

i know what your thinking "oh no you got cussed by a cop!" i have been cussed before now by police and i know that they are under a lot of stress trying to care for our safety, however when i sited the city code that allows me my show on that part of the square i was asked "if i was a !@#$ing lawyer, then told that the part of the city code i sited was bull!@#$ as you can imagine i was in the mood to conform after being threatened with arrest by the officer.

so what does a person do?

for me it was enough to make me scared, i of course called on the people who are supposed to protect us...the police and they referred me to the office of police integrity, i am expecting that they will return my call and put some one on the case of police intimidation of entertainers.

how ever i don't know that i can trust them to do right by us, so i also plan on going to the city at tourneys office and reporting what occurred, then to a free legal clinic to be sure of my rights from a lawyer i can trust.

anyone who has advice or experience with the same type of public servant, please let me know, because i am afraid that it has been happening to a lot of people and i really want to do my show on jackson square as i feel i am entitled.

thanks in advance,

tawasi

[jimmy talksalot]

hi, i dunno the exact circumstances and i know your angry but i will give a little advise having grew up there and began street performing in the square.

new orleans is a very different place....like another country.

to begin your in the deep south and language like "constitutional rights as an american" or similar, are at best laffed at or worse well lets just say dangerous.

people there live there because they realize that the american system with its so called progressive ideas leaves alot to be disagreeable for free thinkers.

in new orleans people are suspicious of change because they don't wanna end up inna corprate police state...well like the rest of the u.s. this and other complications ie. the good ol' boy system, katrina,crack heads, mardis gras, and more, give the cops a strange flavor.

don't get angry with me please.

i've met quite a few of these people in the sqare who try and take legal measures in the quarter and they spend there whole life chasing beauracracy and less time busking.

things you might want to look into are napoleonic law and the civil war.

so what to do?

when a cop approaches me i put my head down call him officer and start appoligizing. and and tell'em i'm gonna find another pitch. ussually he tells me to forget about it...ussually.

if you start lookin around you will notice that there is much more freedom for people in new orleans then in the u.s. and its not what you know, but who you know. friends can help alot i had a friend named "roc" from germany who had a wild stunt show and we would talk to the cops and they'd leave him alone but they hated him. if he didn't have friends they might have takin him to jail. look at it as references cuz your a new applicant.

the trouble begins when you think the law has more power then the cop, cuz its the other way around there.

if you go down to the police station on royal str. and ask for the officer in charge of the square you might be able to cut a deal...i dunno. the other cops will listen to him but they wont look at a piece of paper with laws on it.

its a pretty complicated culture there to explain. i love it and i'm sorry you had a bad time but don't feel alone alot of people especially northerners and califonians have a tough time adapting.

i'm in calif. right now and its a nitemare for me with all these regulations,permits,papers,tickets, fees,lottery systems,and cops cops and more cops. you don't need a permit in new orleans some times the cops will tell you that, buts its just to discourage you.

ask my friends doug conn or warpo they are street magicians workin the quarter they could possibly take the time to elaberate.
and help you. not really a good idea to be a complete loner there.not sayin you are, just sayin.

p.s. be carefull its a little dangerous there cuz of the post katrina thing.

[caricatureguy]

BULLSHIT!!

Imelven, If you are going to be there for a few days or weeks, you might want to just do as Talksalot says and wait for the ossifer to go away and probably the others won't mess with you. I have worked Bourbon and Royal but before I went out I stopped by the police office like Talksalot says. The Desk Sargent kinda laughed at me and told me to do whatever I wanted to do! I think he thought it was funny that anybody would actually come in and ask to do what everybody knows you can obviously do... (pre-Katrina mind you)

If it is worth it to stay there and you feel you are being harrassed all the time, call your local ACLU office and let them know you are having trouble. They will kick ass. It is EVERYONES FIRST AMMENDMANT RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH that they are threatening. Don't get arrested because the ACLU lawyers can't do much about that after the fact. What they can do is call the District Attourney and scare the shit out of him by threatening to sue. I have had this problem myself in Ocean City, Maryland. ACLU threatened to sue and they left me alone to do my thang. Once some cocksuker cop started getting an attitude with me and I was in your exact situation. Shaking and talking about my rights... I was furious and scared... The next morning I called up my ACLU lawyer and there were actually APOLOGIES the next day when I went out. I didn't see that fucking cop ever again either. Cheers!

[Peter Voice]

Go back and try again. Work hard on your crowd build and if he returns and tells you to stop say

"Sorry officer.

If I've offended any-one, yourself included, I'll happily move along. I came hoping to create a few smiles and maybe make a buck or two, not to piss anybody off. The City keeps telling me it's OK"
Leave your mic on if you have one.

Turn to whatever crowd you might have and say "Sorry folks, show's over."

Then wait for the reaction. It never harms to have a sensible ally or two (witness?) among your crowd.

Just keep going back. If you're a true street performer, you will prevail.

[Doctor Eric]

Before I was "allowed" to work the square, as well as before I understood why it's important to be courteous to business owners, I used to do these MONSTER shows on Royal Street. It's a pedestrian walkway, and if you've seen it, you know it ain't that wide. So I'd start a show, and after about 10 minutes, it'd block up the street, you couldn't help but have huge shows: People couldn't get by, and that gigantic chunk o' crowd looked like a gangfight from the outside, which would attract more people. So of course, I got ticketed. I did almost exactly what Peter just suggested, I was polite, but not submissive in the slightest. The cop is being a complete prick, "Stop this show NOW!" I take my time and tell him I just need to say goodbye to the people, he starts huffing and puffing, but I just ignore him and address, the audience with a big smile "Sorry folks, but I'm going to pack it up for now." The audience acted like they were going to riot, and I defended that pig, with a big grin on my face... "No, no, it's not his fault, he's just doing what he thinks his job is, it's alright, I'll start again in 20 minutes." The cop, who's in the middle of writing me a ticket, is going beet red, there's steam coming out of his tiny little inbred, deformed, Thibodeaux/Boudreau sow ears, and it's fogging up his Oakley's, big time. About 20 to 30 people from the show stuck around the whole time, a few feet away, to make sure he didn't act up, meanwhile his partner, this sweet little black lady, looks like she wants to crawl inside her navel and sleep for 8 or 9 days. He hands me the ticket, and I exclaim "Thanks!" with that big shit-eating grin all over my face, he tries to give me a "don't you fuck with me" look, but it comes of more as "I want my Mom and I think I peed a little bit."

The judge laughed the ticket out of court (he had written it for "Juggling Fire", and I explained to the judge that I was EATING fire, that I can't even juggle two phone conversations without dropping 'em)

I saw that cop again and again on Royal Street, but every time he spied me, he suddenly had pressing business in the opposite direction.

There's a moral to this: no matter how big, or how bad, nothing terrifies a cop more than a crowd of people. NOTHING. In fact, the meaner that @#!?er is, the more scared of a crowd he'll be.

Also, never try that after 8p.m. in New Orleans. Once it's night time, they'll just kill you in an alley.

[jeep caillouet]

If you are being harassed in n.o. contact att. mary howell she is the lawyer that got us the right to play in n.o. back in the 80's.she is a civil rights lawyer that they don't give no shit. I don't if she is still there after the storm. Ask David and Roseland, they will know how to find her.

[Doctor Eric]

Peter the glass harpist knows her as well.

[harmonicakev]

Cuidado!

A link to Steve baird's site:

http://communityartsadvocates.org/saalegalneworleans.html

Have fun!

(Cuidado means be careful in Portuguese)

Kevin M.
Boston, MA