Henna artist sues city for civil rights violation
By BYANDREW H. FIXMER Daily Press Staff Writer
Two Henna artists were arrested recently by Santa Monica Police Department undercover officers for working downtown without a business license.
Between four and six police officers dressed in plain clothes and equipped with a video camera descended on Luke Chan-thadara and another unnamed Henna artist while they drew non-permanent designs on the skin of tourists on July 20.
SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said the department routinely uses plain-clothed officers on the Promenade. In this case, each officer was assigned to watch cash transactions being made between the artists and customers. Since the beginning of the year, Henna has been banned from the city, yet Chanthadara and others have rebelled and continue to practice their craft.
“We are enforcing the law,” Fabrega said. “They have been warned and cited in the past.”
However, Chanthadara and other artists say they are being singled out by city officials. They also argue their civil rights are being violated for not being allowed to practice their art.
“They came in plain clothes because they are too ashamed to identify themselves as police officers,” Chanthadara said. “But they came down and videotaped us working like they were tourists or something, and then they seized our equipment and quickly moved us out of the view of the public.”
The video footage showing transactions being made will be used as evidence in the city’s criminal case against the artists, Fabrega said.
Chanthadara said $300 was seized out of his wallet and is being held as evidence.
“That was my rent money,” he said. “It had nothing to do with Henna.”
Fabrega said if any money was seized by officers it also will be used as evidence in the court proceedings.
When Chanthadara started getting citations, he hired attorney Paul Mills to represent him. Chanthadara has filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court, arguing his freedom of expression is being suppressed by the city.
Mills said the city has set up a catch-22 scenario that leaves Henna artists in peril for practicing their art in Santa Monica. He said the city will issue business licenses to practice Henna from a cart or from a storefront location. But the artists can’t afford the $1,800 a month cart or the high storefront rents along the Promenade.
Mills alleges the city is denying business licenses without just cause.
“The city is denying business permits to Henna artists because they must first get a cart license,” Mills said. “But I can’t find anywhere in the Santa Monica municipal code that supports this.”
“The city is denying business permits to Henna artists because they must first get a cart license. But I can’t find anywhere in the Santa Monica municipal code that supports this.” — — PAUL MILLS Attorney
Mills sent a letter to City Attorney Marsha Moutrie earlier this month, requesting the municipal code section that stipulates Chanthadara can’t receive a business permit without first having a lease with a cart or storefront.
“All I ask is that you show me where it says this,” he said, “because I can’t find it anywhere.”
Practicing Henna — which is a 3,000-year-old tradition of painting designs using a reddish-brown dye on skin — has been eliminated as a supported art form. Consequently, it cannot be practiced anywhere on a public street in Santa Monica.
But since the city cannot constitutionally forbid a form of art, it instead refuses to issue business licenses for artists to work publicly.
Even though the law didn’t go into effect until January, it wasn’t until a newly enacted city ordinance regulating street performers was passed by the city council last month that police had the power to arrest performers who repeatedly violated municipal codes Chanthadara, who will continue to protest the city’s Henna prohibition, has received more than eight citations for working on the Promenade without a business license. Operating without a business license is a misdemeanor offense that can carry jail time and fines.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 29, 2002. Read the original PDF.