Royal Oak, MI.

Since when did it become illegal to perform your music freely--to gather, to celebrate, to sing and dance--in America of all places?

...But, wait...hold that thought.

Perhaps I should reconsider the question I'm posing. I come from a Lakota Sioux background, so I can't rightfully claim that I was ever free in this Babylon system. And the people on the streets of Philly know how it goes. They keep sayin I'm free while they restrict and paw at me more and more. Hands off, mutherfucker. So don't get it twiztid; it's been a hard road and I know where I stand, especially as a woman.

And yes I recall the tear gas and brutality of gatherings past--at some points insighted by restrictions placed on a woman who dare bare her breast. I have seen the growing police presence at shows. I know the brutality well and have experienced it firsthand: My girlfriend (a trained paramedic) beaten bloody at the hands of correctional officers who claimed she was not allowed to bring care packages to "other gang members" in prison. My nephew who no longer sports his hatchetman around the halls of his half-dilapidated, inner-city sham of an educational institution. "It's just not worth the heat. I keep getting searched."

And amid all this, here's Psychopathic Records: A small, independent label who struggle to provide people with jobs in Michigan, where it's sorely needed. Yet the system has seen it fit to crush them, perceiving them as a threat of sorts. Why? If anything, one could potentially argue that on some levels Psy works wonders to appease the masses and bring them joy and hope amidst this fucked up system. Is Faygo the opiate of our people? That's another conversation for another time; not a notion that I'm necessarily endorsing at this juncture.

What I am saying is this: The police pressured the Royal Oak venue to cancel Hallowicked. Fortunately, the event was moved back to the D (where it belongs anyhow). But at what cost? Insurance rates through the roof because of a so-called "gang rally"? Growing police presence and systematic targeting of a people who up until this point have posed no threat...not even a peep...to the system at large? Or am I missing something? Again, Why is the system so threatened by us? There are no juggalos marching on Washington; generally, we're content to fill the prisons instead. And this isn't the 90s anymore. We don't even riot at shows hardly ever. It's tame.

Maybe the REAL (no pun intended) threat is our unity. It must be, given that the system has seen it fit to crush us, killing us softly with small, seemingly insignificant occurences like the cancellation of a show or the distribution of "gang assessment" propaganda. Here, there, everywhere...it seems they'd try to take everything if they could. Why?

Unity. That's the only thing I can think of. It serves the powers that be to divide and conquer. If anything, I feel like the puppet show of the presidential election serves it's purpose in that it divides us: red and blue, democrat and republican, "welfare junkie" and "business bigot." Brother against brother. Friend against friend. Neighbor against neighbor. But, again, that's another conversation for another time. A different picture...but in the same ole' frame.

The same, old, tattered, fucking frame.

And only Love can save us:

For real, Blaze is takin' us to church on this one...Can a killa get an Amen?

Thank you for reading.