7/29/2019 Harlem Shake Statement Final

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NCAC and ACLU-PA Condemn School Officials Reaction to

Harlem Shake video variations

The suspension and punishment of students for posting a video of themselves doing the

Harlem Shake dance is the latest demonstration of school officials panicked response

to students use of social media: A response that completely disregards the free speech

issues at stake and is both educationally unsound and counterproductive.

Dozens of students have been suspended from school or expelled from extra-curricular

activities for creating variations of the 30-second dance video. Suspension is a last

resort ordinarily used to penalize serious infractions or disruptive behavior. The Harlem

Shake videos involved neither. The explanation offered by school officials is that the

videos are vulgar or indecent, occasionally (and groundlessly) accusing students of

disorderly conduct or obscene behavior.

Suspending students to enforce notions of propriety regarding extra-curricular activities

does nothing to advance education, even as it infringes on students rights to express

themselves and add their creative variation of the dance to those of thousands of others

online. The videos are arguably constitutionally protected activity, something that

many school officials have failed to acknowledge and that others simply ignore.

Indeed, the Brownsville, PA school district, where 13 students were suspended, has

recently been the subject of multiple claims that district officials violated the

constitutional rights of students and faculty.

Dance has frequently been the target of repression justified in the name of good taste:

In order to make a video of a performance, Burmese traditional dance troupes have to

perform a full-dress rehearsal in front of censorship board officials in order to weed outvulgar jokes about government officials and culturally inappropriate costumes. In

this country, social reform groups led a crusade against jazz in 1921 and against rock-

and-roll in the 1950s due to fears that such music and dancing promoted the mixing of

the races and incited sexual activity.

Young people grow and thrive when they can explore issues of interest, learn on their

own terms, ask questions, and express themselves creatively. Sometimes this entails

getting together with a group of their peers and joining a global dance craze. Even if

some school officials find the dance distasteful or unseemly, thats hardly a reason to

kick kids out of school.

Such a response reflects officials desire to enforce a particular view of good taste

rather than a desire to meet students educational needs. It also reveals a disturbing

indifference to the free speech rights of students and constitutional obligations of public

officials.

NCACs Youth Free Expression Project counters the growing hysteria around young peoples access to culture to send the

message that excessive attempts to control and restrict what kids read, create, watch and play are counterproductive and

to support policies that emphasize educating young people as to how to be literate participants in contemporary culture.

Joan E. Bertin,Executive Director

19 Fulton Street, Suite 407

New York, NY 10038

tel: (212) 807-6222

email: ncac@ncac.org

web: www.ncac.org

Witold Walczak,Legal Director

313 Atwood StreetPittsburgh, PA 15213

tel: (412) 681-7736

email: hbginfo@aclupa.org

web: www.aclupa.org