The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Editorials

January 29, 2010

Judge: No booty shaking allowed at Jefferson Memorial

The Back Porch column

By Nerissa Young

Inspired people are moved to do many things, which can include dancing.

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against the National Park Service that was filed by a woman who broke into spontaneous dancing while visiting the memorial dedicated to former statesman and president Thomas Jefferson.

Mary Oberwetter was arrested in April 2008 for refusing to stop dancing after a National Park Service officer told her to, The Washington Post reported this week.

Oberwetter and 17 friends were in the memorial listening to music on headphones. According to her attorney, they were dancing to honor Jefferson’s individualist spirit.

The story doesn’t give details on the type of dance performed, whether it included flailing of arms, the electric slide, the two-step, the Charleston or what. Oberwetter was arrested for demonstrating without a permit and interfering with an agency function. The charges were dropped, but Oberwetter filed suit claiming the park service officer violated her free expression rights.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said the memorial is a place for contemplation of Jefferson’s life and legacy, not a place to bust a move.

“Prohibiting demonstrations is a reasonable means of ensuring a tranquil and contemplative mood at the Jefferson Memorial,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

“The Memorial is akin to a temple or a shrine (both in terms of its purpose and its physical characteristics), not a place of public expression,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in their pleadings in the case.

Clearly, the memorials in Washington are to honor people whom Americans have identified as pivotal in the nation’s history. However, what the judge and the Justice Department seem to lose sight of is these memorials are for the people.

Oberwetter’s “demonstration” was after 11 p.m., which probably isn’t peak visitation time at any of the memorials. The story doesn’t indicate that anyone other than the park officer was offended.

The freedom to be different, to show passion and to follow it, are basic principles on which the country was founded. Some people, including the Justice Department and Judge Bates, seem to have forgotten that.

Further, they need look back only a few years to realize their main premise is false. Black opera singer Marian Anderson performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when Jim Crow attitudes prevented her from performing at Constitution Hall. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The Million Man March convened on the National Mall, the strip of land connecting many of Washington’s memorials. Each was a demonstration of ideals.

Through history, when people have wanted to make a point, they have done so at the iconic places in the nation’s capital because of what those memorials mean to the people. They serve their function to inspire, to cause contemplation.

Jefferson entertained frequently and knew how to enjoy a good party. Chances are, he danced. He probably enjoyed Oberwetter’s expression of respect.

Bates and the park service owe Oberwetter an apology. They also owe one to the annals of history.

— Young is a Register-Herald columnist. E-mail: ynerissa@verizon.net

© 2010 by Nerissa Young

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