Mt. Hope Juggalo Speaks: 'We're Not A Gang'

In light of all of the media and rumors surrounding a fight at involving a member of a group of friends known as Juggalos, one Mt. Hope Juggalo sat down with Patch to set the record straight about his group of friends.

Michael Pavao of Warren says "the Juggalo thing" has been blown way out of proportion by the school, parents and kids in school since , landing one of Pavao's best friends in the hospital.

"The student body has looked at it like we’re a gang, and we don’t understand that," Pavao said. "We’re not a gang, we're just being ourselves."

He says he doesn't understand why he and his friends have been targeted by the student body for being fans of the Insane Clown Posse, and claims that he and his friends have been alienated by their peers.

"Wednesday was when everything just started happening," he said. "People were just starting to bust on us. We didn’t understand, what’s wrong with being who we are?"

Pavao says that he and his friends don't normally wear their makeup in school, but on Thursday, some of them did as a form of a "peaceful protest" to the students who were bullying them.

"I think bullying is the most important issue." Pavao said. "They're suspending the kids who are being bullied, not the kids who are doing the bullying. We're the ones who are being alientated by the entire student body."

Pavao says he and a friend went to the Dean's Office on Thursday to report a number of Facebook messages from students making fun of the Juggalos and putting them down, but nothing was done.

As for those parents and students who are afraid of the group retaliating for the fight, Pavao says they have nothing to worry about.

"We don't plan on retaliating," he said. "Why would we? We're not like viscious killing monsters or anything. And we're already getting screwed over on everything else that is happening."

Ultimately, Pavao expressed that the underlying issue is in-school and cyber bullying.

"What I hope comes out of this is that it dies off," he said. "No one wants to be picked on. I hope at the end of this, people understand that we're not out to hurt anyone, we're just trying to be ourselves."