WASHINGTON—Even Insane Clown Posse couldn’t quite believe it. “We’re the good guys here today,” Violent J, one half of the widely loathed face-painting “horrorcore” rap duo, told the fans, known as “Juggalos,” who had gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. “We’re actually in the right this time!”The Juggalos, so easy to make fun of, had a case: the feds were the real clowns. And for a surreal Washington afternoon, the colourful people of one of America’s most-mocked subcultures were being seen by powerful people as freedom fighters, weird makeup and all.Profane freedom fighters, yes. Two of the Juggalos’ Saturday refrains of choice: “You f---ed up” and “F--- that s---,” which they occasionally chanted in the direction of police helicopters, fingers extended skyward.But this was the exception. They were so cheerful that some of them insisted on hugging journalists. And their favourite chant was a single upbeat word: “family.”It was their response to the term the FBI insists describes them: gang. “We’re different,” said rally host Kevin Gill. “We’re not dangerous.”Hundreds of Juggalos had assembled for the demonstration and march in protest of a curious six-year-old FBI decision to include the Juggalos in their official national gang list, alongside such indisputably dangerous entities as MS-13.Read more:Insane Clown Posse sues U.S. government in defense of its fansWhite nationalist leader Richard Spencer says conservatives should protest against Trump — not for himThe gang classification, Juggalos said, had led employers to force them out of jobs, convinced judges to deny them custody of their kids, and subjected them to police harassment for their Insane Clown Posse tattoos. One Virginia woman, Jessica Bonometti, said she had been fired as a probation officer because of Fa ...
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