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Epilogue 2 Freedom to Gather in the Twenty-first Century In 1972, when the Rainbow Family held its first Gathering in Colorado , only a few countries in the world allowed such autonomous celebrations of freedom. In the 1980s, when I began field work among Rainbows, many countries that now regularly host Gatherings were under the control of authoritarian regimes. Their laws forbade events like Gatherings or even crossing international borders to attend Gatherings as the Iranian Rainbows do today. In this world of oppressive regimes, the freedoms the American Rainbow Family enjoyed inspired would-be Rainbows around the world. Fast forward to 2010. Rainbow Gatherings occur across the former Soviet bloc and in Latin America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and Africa. These Gatherings seldom have problems with government authorities. Back in the United States, by contrast, federal government law-enforcement officials now systematically harass and persecute Rainbow Gathering attendees wherever they gather. A 2008 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) investigation into U.S. Forest Service treatment of the Rainbow Family at the 2008 National Gathering in Wyoming, for example, not only identified abuses at that one Gathering but also noted, “This type of harassment and general overzealous enforcement appear to have been the pattern in the USFS relationship with the Rainbow Family” (ACLU 2008). The ACLU investigation and subsequent report stem from an incident at the 2008 Gathering, when USFS law enforcement officers (LEOs) shot up Kiddie Village, the Gathering’s child-centered camp, with irritant-filled projectiles they identified as “pepperballs.” The official USFS story, parroted verbatim by the Associated Press (Neary 2008b) and run in newspapers across the United States, begins with this line: “About 400 members of the Rainbow Family threw rocks and sticks at ten federal officers on Thursday night as they tried to arrest one member of the group at its annual gathering in western Wyoming, the U.S. Forest Service reported.” The article goes on to explain that the incident began when LEOs “apprehended one person described as being uncooperative.” The arresting officers were then surrounded by a “mob” of “about 400 Rainbows” who “began to advance, throwing sticks and rocks at the officers,” forcing the officers to employ “crowd control tactics.” Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) collected sworn testimonies from USFS officers involved in the incident as part of a “Use of Force” investigation (OIG 2009). These statements provide more detail to this official narrative. One testimony begins with 240 • Epilogue 2 a “5–10 minute fast walking pursuit” of a man suspected “of having marijuana.” This speed walking led to Kiddie Village, where the report states that he saw a woman “move quickly past his security position” and interfere with the pursuit and arrest of the suspected marijuana smoker. Officers arrested the woman. They then, the narrative continues, were surrounded by obscenity-shouting Rainbows. The LEOs drew their Tasers and “aimed them at the ground.” At that point, the “mob” reportedly advanced on the officers who discharged their pepperball weapons into the ground. “Riotous” Rainbows chased the officers through the woods for thirty minutes, pelting them with rocks, as they escorted their two prisoners out of the Gathering. This officer testified that Rainbows were “running ahead through the forest, clearly in an attempt to outflank” the officers with “an aggressive action” (OIG 2009, 7–11). Another officer testified that he “deployed multiple pepperball rounds to the chest and legs of subjects who were interfering or were assaultive, over the next 15–20 minutes,” adding, “These individuals in the riotous crowd displayed an advancing aggressive fighting stance, clenched fists, were tossing rocks, and made threatening statements to the officers . . .” A third officer testified that she drew her Taser on an individual who had “advanced” on her (OIG 2009, 11). She also witnessed “one individual” who “allowed himself to be struck by pepperballs as he smiled at officers” (OIG 2009, 12). A fourth officer testified to shooting Rainbows “who were not complying with the orders to get off the trail.” The OIG reports that he claimed to have “only targeted non-compliant subjects and ensured he had a clear shot at his target prior to firing” (OIG 2009, 12). The ACLU, in their investigation of the incident (ACLU 2009), interviewed both veteran and “casual” or “first time” Gathering attendees as well as “Wyoming Residents that just wanted to see ‘what was going on.’” Their “reporters” included “doctors, lawyers, National Guard members, a nurse, and a retired local...

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