Chicago Police Raid "Dangerous Poetry Reading" In Art Gallery

[DeSwiss]

PRINTERS BALL GETS BUSTED

Posted by : cj on Saturday, July 21, 2007 - 10:08 AM

Cops Kick Lit Mags Out Of Private Art Gallery


The Zhou B. Art Center, 1029 West 35th St., turns into a poet's heaven for a few hours on Friday, June 20. America's ninety-year-old legend, Poetry Magazine, gets to show off its hip new strut with a free event called Printers Ball. This one promises to be the best Printers Ball of all, and I finally see that The Poetry Foundation is doing something good with the money it has inherited from Ruth Lilly. And there are free hotdogs!! How much more American can you get?

On the first floor there are tables stacked with magazines, books, anthologies, journals and small press zines, all of which are being given away free to whoever wants to grab one. Cool tote bags are given out while supplies last. There is a DJ spinning music in one room and a performance art exhibit in another. On the second floor a glee club sings new wave songs. The walls of the third floor are decorated with art. There are hundreds of people here, all celebrating literature and literacy peacefully. The Lumpen guys can be seen with the Chicago Review guys. Issues of Columbia Poetry Review sit next to issues of In These Times.

For the moment, I think I am in a poetry paradise. The party is only beginning. And then a swarm police wearing bulletproof vests with badges on ropes around their necks like characters from The Shield illegally storm into this private art gallery. Without so much as a search warrant or even an explanation, five of them surround the DJ and demand he turn off Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack." Issuing uncompromising threats, they force the DJ to announce over the microphone that without so much as a discussion EVERYONE MUST LEAVE THE PREMISES.

Like a scene out of Robocop, a small army, in ominous black bulletproof jumpsuits with CHICAGO POLICE in big white letters across their chests, arm the exits as hundreds of literate citizens file out into the night. Thus ends this year's Printers Ball, which took who knows how long to plan and which apparently offended the authorities by putting some literature into its party. One has to wonder what has gone wrong with the City of Chicago at times like this. Does this city simply have too many narcs? Do these roughnecks have to keep busy to justify their paychecks? Are the Chicago Police that daft that they can't tell a book giveaway from a rave? Is this a sign of intellectual cleansing in preparation for the Olympics? Or perhaps there is a legitimate concern like a bomb threat but we the people are too ignorant to have it explained to us.

http://chicagopoetry.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=696&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

*** - Everyone knows that poets are criminal-terrarists. It says so right there in the Homeland Security manual, under "Words Of Wisdom From Mike's Gut......

[EFerrari]

1. This is war.

:mad:

[Selatius]

2. As Americans are conditioned to be more and more deferent to authority, this will only increase

And the people will, by degrees, grow to accept the small insults here and there until they build into a mortal insult against the notion of freedom and free thought.

[DeSwiss]

3. And all that'll happen....

...right up until total insurrection. Remember, Americans love their guns.

[Solo_in_MD]

11. Americans are not yet as servile as the Europeans, but we are getting closer

[Luminous Animal]

25. What are you talking about?

Europeans are notorious for mass protest, they vote in far larger numbers than Americans, they have far more choices across the political spectrum, and a more diverse press.

[Richard Steele]

28. By any rational standard, Americans are far more blindly obedient than Europeans.

Key words being "rational standard", knowhutImean?

[robinlynne]

31. yep.

[Solon]

41. Europeans servile? LOL, that's funny!

Oh wait, your SERIOUS!?!? Damn, I'm sorry, really I am, didn't know that such mental blocks actually exist.

[Captain Angry]

4. I hope the Chicago press picks this up and we get better info.

The quote you posted has a typo saying that it happened in June, when it really was July. (I'm guessing you cut/paste it before they fixed it on their site)

But anyway, there needs to be some light shed on that one. The police don't get to shut down a private function without cause.

[MRM]

13. Not to mention

That Chicago is one of the most liberal cities in the country. There is more to this story.

[shenmue]

18. Have the mayor or governor said anything yet?

I can't imagine somebody just letting this happen.

[madrchsod]

5. the chicago cops are in deep shit as it is, now this?

in bridgeport..i think that`s daley`s neighborhood

[BlooInBloo]

6. Fucking police.

[silverweb]

7. Sun-Times article:

This sheds more light. Even if true, I think it could have been handled a lot better:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/482360,CST-NWS-poetry25.article

[FloridaJudy]

9. It seems they were violating the fire code

But does it take a SWAT team in riot gear to deliver the message?

[Kingshakabobo]

27. IIRC, the police have been made to take on more responsibility....

......regarding these "illegal" gatherings since the "E2" nightclub incident that killed 21 people - 21 people were killed in a stampede after someone sprayed pepper-spray. Apparently, the exits where inadequate for fire codes.

IIRC, there was finger-pointing between code enforcement and the police as to who was responsible for enforcing.


I don't know how other cities operate but Chicago really has a hard-on for fire-code and code enforcement after the nightclub stampede and a deck collapse three years ago that killed 12 kids. I'm trying to build a deck on my roof and it's next to impossible to obtain a permit. Litigation is still pending against the city - I think I heard a figure of 100 million??


I guess this is what you get when you ask a paramilitary force to enforce codes "for your own safety" - guns and billy-clubs.


http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/02/18/btsc.flock/
City attorneys say the club had been ordered to shut down last year. The Epitome restaurant on the first floor was not affected, but the club on the second floor was not allowed to operate.

Attorneys for the club, however, say that they had reached an agreement with the city, that they could use the second floor club, but not an upper level VIP area on that floor.

City officials said inspectors were under the impression that the club had closed and believed that the people coming and going from the building were diners at the restaurant.

Attorneys for club owners and others we have talked to in the community said there is no way the city could have not known that this club was operating.

Vast numbers of people would come, city police were often used for crowd control and even off-duty officers were employed by the club.

The club also advertised often on the Internet and on local radio stations

[Marrah_G]

45. Station Night Club Fire

100 dead, many more badly burned or trampled or both while trying to flee the building.

[Kingshakabobo]

52. They both happened in February 2003.

The "E2" incident was especially sad because there was no actual danger.....Someone sprayed pepper-spray, someone else yelled "terrorist" and a stampede ensued. The exits were inadequate for the third floor lounge so hundreds of people crammed in to a small hallway and 21 people were killed. Keep in mind, this was during the height of the run-up to the invasion and Bush "terror" campaign.

This, and the deck collapse that killed 12 kids, has really put Chicago code enforcement on the hot seat. That's why I'm not surprised to find the CPD busting up unlicensed events. One of the many controversies from the E2 disaster was WHO is responsible - especially at night when building inspectors aren't around. The police have been tasked with monitoring these things more closely.

I have friends that work for the city. They used to be able to get permits "pencil whipped" for friends. Not any more. Last time I checked, there were indictments and 100 million dollar lawsuits floating around. I couldn't get my roof-deck permit "fixed."

I know it goes against the general consensus of this thread but I doubt there was any nefarious plan to break up poetry reading in Chicago. It doesn't surprise me the police showed up with riot gear and clubs. Their motto is, after all, "what the fuck are you looking at?"

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

30. Was it a SWAT team in riot gear...

...or was the author taking... um... poetic license?

:hide:

[Marrah_G]

44. It wasn't a swat team

It was 30 policemen in some riot gear entering a crowded club with 1000 people who just might get out of hand when asked to leave.

[Solo_in_MD]

10. It certainly presents a different view of the situation

I found the following statement interesting:

Anne Halsey, spokeswoman for the Poetry Foundation, the organizer of the Printer's Ball, said the police were "extremely pleasant and courteous."

which is seriously at odds with other reports

[Occulus]

26. She sounds like she had no problem with it

It's the only explanation for the discrepancy I can think of. She sounds like she's okay with police doing something like this.

People like that scare the shit out of me.

[barbtries]

15. i read the article

and cannot understand the riot gear. i don't like the sound of "anonymous complaint." it doesn't ring true, they hate us for us freedom.

[Marrah_G]

46. Any cops going into a crowd that huge and shutting something down are going to wear protective gear

[BrightKnight]

42. I don't have a problem with what the City did.

The city would catch hell if there was a fire and they knew that they were breaking the law. No bureacrat is going to risk his career over something like that.

One large party might be acceptable but a weekley large party is something else entirely.

I don't have a problem with the way the Chicago Police handled it. They apparently went in with excess force in full riot gear. I might be a bit over the top but nobody got hurt. There might have been a better approach but the approach they took worked.

Nobody in the City government gives a damn about the politics of the people at the party.

--
Painting this as an invasion of jack booted fascist thugs is ridiculous.

[qdemn7]

8. The Chicago PD

Has turned into American Brownshirts, plain and simple. And this is coming from a person whom is usually pro-Law Enforcement. Things will never change as long as Daley is in office.

[formercia]

19. Daley is one of the boys

The Chicago police department is infiltrated by them. This is just a test to see the response they get at large.

Make lots of noise.

When they push, push back.

[BrightKnight]

57. Daley is a good government geek.

He is a policy wonk.

Left leaning groups, events and demonstrations are as common as the wind in Chicago. I have never seen Daley stick his nose in any of them.

Nobody in City government gives a damn about the politics of the people attending these parties.

To paint this as an invasion of jack booted fascist thugs is ridiculous.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. Someone posted recently that in Cobb County, GA, which is an Atlanta suburb,

and an affluent one, police were doing license and registration checks -- about 12 police officers actually doing the checks, plus several Robo-Cop SWAT team guys just standing around to intimidate.

[barbtries]

14. did this get any mainstream coverage?

was a reason ever given for their actions?
i feel like crying. where is my country?!?!?!?!

[killbotfactory]

16. Forget it, Jake. It's Chin-- Chicago...

[shenmue]

17. Hey, what the--?!

They're reading poems! We've got to stop them!

:dunce:

:grr:

:sarcasm:

[xchrom]

20. recommend

[opihimoimoi]

21. The INFECTION Spreads.....the Collective Brains of America has be fucked with PUB CRAP (Psyops...)

[Hubert Flottz]

49. Somebody prolly wrote some good limericks about Dave Vitter

and the brownshorts got all pissed about it.

[opihimoimoi]

59. They are pissed their HERO can no longer be a HERO....Instead, Vitter is caught wearing diapers

Heros don't not wear diaps

Brownshirts need Heros and now...Vitter is off the A List.

I would be pissed too if my hero turned out to be a Diap Freak....jus sayin....

[ProgressiveEconomist]

22. WHO complained? Bridgeport was RJ Daley's original powerbase and still may

house many powerful politically-connected people. Is it still a neighborhood where hundreds of Chicago cops live?

Find out who called in the "anonymous tip" to exactly those bureaucrats who could organize a short-notice raid by 30 officers in flak jackets and you may solve the mystery. Maybe somebody heard something negative being said about the mayor or an alderman.

[datasuspect]

35. daley doesn't live in bridgeport anymore

they have a family house there i think or his siblings might live there.

and yes, there are many public employees who live there. cops, firemen, "dept. of tony" (streets and san) workers. it's the "old neighborhood" for a lot of people, and from what i've heard it's starting to get gentrified. it's the new "hot spot" in chicago.

i think this is a clash of cultures: credit-flush transplants playing city against the natives who probably are a bit entrenched in their perceptions of "the way things work."

property values are soaring there. my aunt and uncle bought their 2-flat in the 3100 block of south lowe in 1971 for about 25,000. it's now worth about 500,000.

people there generally used to keep their partying subdued - in the taverns and private social clubs. it was always a law and order place and riff raff were kept in line through the savagery and brutality of the police.

back in the 60s, if you were enough of a fuck up, the cops would literally chase you out of the neighborhood, and if you kept coming around, they'd pick you up, take you to the station at 35th and lowe and beat your ass in the basement. people got the message.

a black male if he had walked down a street in bridgeport in the 50s or 60s could expect to get picked up by the cops or beaten up by neighborhood guys. it was a very private, provincial, insular, racist, "connected" place at one time. don't know if it still is. and i'm not condoning the racism.

some of the old guys still "fly the flag" at the social clubs, but like the rest of chicago, the real estate market is dramatically changing the social fabric of the lower middle class, blue collar strongholds.

as far as the "art people" go, i could imagine it might have been loud, bright, or busy activity on the block that sparked the residents to take action.

the average chicago cop is a "neighborhood guy."

i grew up with these kind of people and i can assure you they probably relished the prospect of terrorizing yuppies, transplants, or interlopers.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

53. RJ Daley died over 30 yrs ago, didn't he? I don't get to Chicago as much as I used to,

but I'm dot that out of date. Richie Daley's middle initial is different from his dad's isn't it?

Seriously, thanks for the neighborhood update. So the Near North and Wicker Park artsy set are spilling into Bridgport now?

Remember these quotes from Richard J. Daley? http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/richard_j_daley.html

[datasuspect]

54. the old man died in 1976

wicker park lost its art scene in the late 90s.

it's still kinda there, but it's a yuppie clusterfuck now.

jr.'s middle initial is different.

[Homer Wells]

23. I am SHOCKED, SHOCKED I tell you,

to find there is Poetry Readings and Wine Spritzer drinking going on in this establishment!!!

Everyone must leave AT ONCE!!!!!




:spank: :spank: :wow: :spray:

[lala_rawraw]

24. um... i am a member of the poetry foundation...

so... let me make sure i understand just how many enemy lists i am on now...

poetry foundation - check
aclu - check
now - maybe
journalist - check
immigrant - check
activist - check
blogger - check
...

anyone want to share their list? let's see who is likely to get disappeared first... :)

[marmar]

29. Fascism always goes after the artists and intellectuals first, doesn't it?

Sounds like 1930s Berlin.

[undergroundpanther]

32. Yeah..

They killed the disabled and mentally ill,the dissidents artists poets,first.It was a tyranny of normalcy.The fallacy that all must be the same if the state was to make society tame,They silenced the wounded and shattered the heart, shut up the poets and tore down the art,all in an attempt to destroy the visionary who remembered it never had to come to this ,they had to be bad germans and good people..and never bow down to the dominator's.

I must be a real target..than..
Transgender,poet artist ,dissident, mentally ill, disabled,and anti authoritarian..and hates bullies.

Oh well.I'll keep sharpening my claws on those fascist maws.
Until I am eaten alive,I'll go down kicking the darkness until it bleeds daylight..as I think it was Ray Bradbury who said it.

[CoffeeCat]

33. Please remember...

if they don't fight the 'Tiger Tiger burning bright' over there--we'll be fighting
them over here.

...or some such nonsense.

[porphyrian]

34. They're scared of anything they think anarchists will show up to.

You should've seen the turn out a couple years ago when they banned a march from the business district and they got word the anarchists were going to march there anyway. And that was a couple of years ago.

[havocmom]

36. Cheap goods & contaminated foods not the only thing we are getting from China

Seems the penchant for terrorizing any group that does any independent thinking will get the Red Guard treatment.

When did we become the people captive behind the iron/bamboo curtain?

Freeway Bloggers who damage NOTHING hauled off to jail
Group at a poetry celebration sent home

These are tests, people, to see just how much we will sit still for.

[DBoon]

38. we teach the Chinese greed

They teach us oppression.

[havocmom]

39. It's the BFEE idea of cultural exchange

x(

Makes ya curious about what subjects the chimp and Puty-Put talk about on their visits.

[BrightKnight]

37. Daley never gets involved in anything like that.

Chicago is a huge college town and I have never seen Daley stuck his nose in anything like that ever. He is generally a good government geek with more important things to worry about.

Individual Chicago cops can be a bit redneck at times but I have never seen them get excited about any kind of protest or demonstration. A veteran Chicago cop told me he liked "protest season" because they got OT. They have seen it all and they are always remarkably calm.

Left leaning groups, events, and demonstrations are about as common as the wind in Chicago. Few people notice and nobody gets excited about any of it. There must be more to the story.

[leftofthedial]

40. they claim it was a matter of improper licensing

for a gathering of that size in that facility

liquor license violations

fire safety

they obviously didn't bribe the right officials

[BrightKnight]

56. Held every third Friday with large crowds, candles, alcohol and no licenses.

The City should be cracking down on this. Nobody wants a repeat of the "E2", or "The Station" tragedies.

If they knew about it, did nothing and something happened a lot of bureaucratic heads would roll. Nobody is going to take that chance.

This had absolutely nothing to do with the political views of the people attending the party.

[Marrah_G]

43. Ask people from the station nightclub fire what they think of fire code breaking and lots of people

Sorry they get no sympathy from me. 30 cops for 1000 people is not to many nor is riot gear a stupid move when entering a group of 1000 people who may become very upset.

Over- crowding, having lit candles near flammable items is a recipe for disaster. What if nothing was done and there was a fire. How many would have lived do you think while 1000 people panic and try to get out small doorways?

[BrightKnight]

50. .. or "E2" in Chicago -- n/t

[Rex]

47. To protect and serve

guess who they serve?

[Marrah_G]

48. The people they don't want getting hurt?

Or are fire codes just some silly republican plot?

[Rex]

51. Sure in all that riot gear.

Real easy to put out a fire in that stuff. Right. Fire codes had nothing to do with this, but sleep better if you believe that.

[Marrah_G]

55. These were not firemen they were cops wading into a very large crowd of people

They were in protective gear. Why would the police be putting out a fire?

Seriously, stop and think what would happen if there was a fire in an over-crowded space like that.

It's happened before and the result is NEVER pretty in fact that is why they limit the number of people in a space. If you choose to see a conspiracy around every corner then more power to you.

I will sleep just fine.

[MilesColtrane]

58. They'll take my iambic pentameter when they pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

C'mon, if Poetry Magazine had held the Ball in a hotel there would have been a lot of cops sitting at home that night.

I would expect the city in which this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_Theater_fire happened to take the fire code seriously.

[BlueIris]

61. Hee.

[marions ghost]

60. OK...

Now look at this situation objectively. How could it have been handled differently?

A cultural event that had been planned for months was going on. Don't know the history of this event but there's a history. It doesn't sound like some kind of dangerous out-of-control crowd. This is the kind of thing that is all too rare in our constipated, kill anything different culture. I'd be willing to bet some of the poetry was political. These days it's hard to find any place to sponsor something like this.

OK so they were in violation of fire codes it seems. So send an observer and get on their case the next day with the appropriate legal pressure. Make them find another place to hold this in future. ASK them to put out candles, but DON'T send swat teams in to shut the actual event down. What a waste of taxpayers time and money this was...cops must've needed some 'crowd control' training. Practicing gestapo tactics on the poetry crowd--pathetic. Of course this was meant to be intimidating, discouraging of this type of event. This is just so lame and unnecessary. But we live in a paranoid, increasingly rigid society.

[BlueIris]

62. I feel I must post a shameless plug for my nightly poem threads in the Lounge.

Please come to the Lounge and read the poems I will aspire to post once a night. They could really use more readers.

Here are the last five selections, for those interested:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=6765314&mesg_id=6765314
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6767795
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6771411
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6774799
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x6778847