Advancing liberty

Until recently the public high school in Paw Paw, Michigan still used the racial slur “Redskin” and offensive imagery of a Native American as a mascot for its athletic program.  Advocacy by Native Americans in the area to change the mascot was beaten back with excessive hostility, aggression, and racial animus. 

After receiving multiple complaints about this controversy and other signs of racial discrimination and harassment in the Paw Paw Public Schools, the ACLU of Michigan investigated and uncovered a pattern of extremely disturbing incidents, including the display of swastika, hostile use of the N word and other racial slurs, and students being told to “go back to Mexico.”  When we approached the school district with an offer to collaborate in attempting to improve the environment, we were ignored. 

In January 2019 we formally filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, charging that the school district’s deliberate indifference to a racially hostile educational environment violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  In December 2019 the Department of Education announced that it would investigate the school district’s treatment of Native Americans.  In March 2020 the school district finally acknowledged the harm caused by its offensive Native American branding and discontinued its use. 

(ACLU Attorney Mark P. Fancher.) 

In 2014 the ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI for stigmatizing all fans of a popular hip hop and rap group as a “gang.” Dedicated fans of the music group Insane Clown Posse (ICP) refer to themselves as “Juggalos,” much like dedicated fans of the Grateful Dead are known as “Deadheads.” Many Juggalos proudly display ICP logos and symbols on their clothing, jewelry, bumper stickers, and as tattoos. Based on a few isolated criminal incidents involving Juggalos, the federal government officially designated the Juggalos as a “gang.” 

As a result, completely innocent Juggalos who are not involved in criminal activity are being harassed by police, denied employment, and otherwise stigmatized because of the clothing and tattoos that they use to identify themselves. In 2014, Judge Robert Cleland dismissed our case on standing grounds, but in 2015 the Sixth Circuit reversed, holding that Juggalos and ICP have suffered injury and therefore have standing to challenge the gang designation. 

In 2016, Judge Cleland dismissed the case a second time, holding that the Juggalos did not suffer “legal consequences” and therefore could not challenge the designation under the Administrative Procedures Act. We appealed, but unfortunately in December 2017 the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the case. 

Although the Juggalos did not win in court, the case was very successful in other ways, including raising public awareness about the absurdity of the gang designation, causing the FBI to admit to the court that only a “small number” of Juggalos were engaged in criminal activity, and putting local law enforcement agencies on notice that they can be sued for targeting Juggalos. 

(Parsons v. U.S. Department of Justice; ACLU Attorneys Dan Korobkin and Michael J. Steinberg; Cooperating Attorneys Saura Sahu, Emily Palacios and Ray Fylstra of Miller Canfield; co-counsel Howard Hertz and Farris Haddad.)

Read more case background.