White People Charged Double for Afrofuture Concert

[Ana the Ist]

Seriously, I can't make this up....

An Afrofuturist festival in Detroit charged white people $20 and black people $10, then they got hit with backlash - CNN

The Eventbrite page for "AfroFuture Fest," hosted by Afrofuture Youth, advertised an "Early Bird POC Ticket" for $10 -- with POC meaning "people of color" -- and an "Early Bird NONPOC Ticket" for $20. The group defined "NONPOC" as white people.

So....here's some real racism at work. Those hosting the event faced some real backlash for it, and it eventually got pulled, but the thought that they should do this in the first place is a glimpse into the mindset of a lot of racists today. They literally see nothing wrong with being openly racist against whites. I wonder why they thought this kind of blatant racist discrimination against whites was ok?

To give credit where credit is due....1 biracial performer understood just how disgustingly racist this is and refused to participate while calling out the racism.

The rapper said she is biracial and her grandmother is white. Tiny Jag told CNN Monday she felt emotionally triggered because the charging practice makes a group of people feel like they are not wanted at the event and like they're paying a debt for another community.

"I didn't think we were near that thinking that something like that could be progressive," she said. "We have never seen hate work, I don't understand."

So congrats to Tiny Jag and her ability to see the racist hypocrisy, to call it out as hate, and remove herself from the concert.

The event's organizers though....tried to justify their racism with the old "white people have more money than blacks so this is just a way of making things fair"....I'm paraphrasing of course.

The group says its reasoning for doubling ticket prices for white people was because white people have the privilege to attend festivals in "POC populated cities." In other words, the group says, white people can afford tickets to any event in any city, while black and brown people cannot.

At least they changed their minds once they realized how racist they are....right? Wrong.

After all the backlash, the group tweeted Sunday night that they had reversed their decision on ticketing prices because they "received threats from white supremacists" and children were "subjected to seeing racist comments" on social media.

So they only changed this because....surprise....they got a lot of hate from "white supremacists" for it. One should wonder if it was actually white supremacists or if they just think any white person who is angry about being persecuted for their skin color is a "white supremacist". It doesn't seem like they understand just how racist they are...which is common amongst hardcore racists.

Thoughts??

 

[cow451]

Seriously, I can't make this up....

An Afrofuturist festival in Detroit charged white people $20 and black people $10, then they got hit with backlash - CNN



So....here's some real racism at work. Those hosting the event faced some real backlash for it, and it eventually got pulled, but the thought that they should do this in the first place is a glimpse into the mindset of a lot of racists today. They literally see nothing wrong with being openly racist against whites. I wonder why they thought this kind of blatant racist discrimination against whites was ok?

To give credit where credit is due....1 biracial performer understood just how disgustingly racist this is and refused to participate while calling out the racism.



So congrats to Tiny Jag and her ability to see the racist hypocrisy, to call it out as hate, and remove herself from the concert.

The event's organizers though....tried to justify their racism with the old "white people have more money than blacks so this is just a way of making things fair"....I'm paraphrasing of course.



At least they changed their minds once they realized how racist they are....right? Wrong.



So they only changed this because....surprise....they got a lot of hate from "white supremacists" for it. One should wonder if it was actually white supremacists or if they just think any white person who is angry about being persecuted for their skin color is a "white supremacist". It doesn't seem like they understand just how racist they are...which is common amongst hardcore racists.

Thoughts??

My ‘fro never had a future.....

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

.

 

[Ana the Ist]

My ‘fro never had a future.....

I didn't come up with the title....though I would also think a Caucasifuture event would be weird.

 

[keith99]

My thought is while I don't really like rap in general (there have been a few songs I have liked) I just might check out the stuff by Tiny Jag.

 

[ripple the car]

Seriously, I can't make this up....

An Afrofuturist festival in Detroit charged white people $20 and black people $10, then they got hit with backlash - CNN



So....here's some real racism at work. Those hosting the event faced some real backlash for it, and it eventually got pulled, but the thought that they should do this in the first place is a glimpse into the mindset of a lot of racists today. They literally see nothing wrong with being openly racist against whites. I wonder why they thought this kind of blatant racist discrimination against whites was ok?

To give credit where credit is due....1 biracial performer understood just how disgustingly racist this is and refused to participate while calling out the racism.



So congrats to Tiny Jag and her ability to see the racist hypocrisy, to call it out as hate, and remove herself from the concert.

The event's organizers though....tried to justify their racism with the old "white people have more money than blacks so this is just a way of making things fair"....I'm paraphrasing of course.



At least they changed their minds once they realized how racist they are....right? Wrong.



So they only changed this because....surprise....they got a lot of hate from "white supremacists" for it. One should wonder if it was actually white supremacists or if they just think any white person who is angry about being persecuted for their skin color is a "white supremacist". It doesn't seem like they understand just how racist they are...which is common amongst hardcore racists.

Thoughts??

Huh. So..... would a Sephardic Jew from Syria be White? What about a Kashmiri? Or a Kurd? Or Ainu? Or Berber?

What about a mostly European guy with one African-American great-grandparent? Or a guy with three German grandparents and one Spokane grandparent? Race can get weird.

 

[tall73]

I suppose had they persisted there could have been legal challenges. Some states ban ladies night promotions at bars and such where they offer reduced price drinks for women, as they are discriminatory.

But then courts in other states did not find that to be the case.


Ladies' night - Wikipedia

 

[Tanj]

Thoughts??

Always.

My current thought is congratulations. I agree with everything you posted.

ETA
I had another thought, and that is I am annoyed at the attempted misappropriation for the acronym for Proof Of Concept, and am glad their POC POC failed.

 

[Jonaitis]

Interesting.

I hope they realize that the average African American is around 30% white, this is genetically proven...

 

[bèlla]

I’m not surprised. I’ve seen similar practices with the farmers markets. I’m not suggesting they’re racist but the price differences can be steep. Our local market charges more and has added tip jars too.

I spent a season working on an organic farm. We were told the prices were significantly lower at the site. They had social initiatives to combat food deserts.

But they advised us never to send customers from the other locations in affluent areas to the main one. They acknowledged the price differences and didn’t wish to pass it on to them. Their consensus was they’d cease to patronize the other locations and go to the less expensive one.

 

[redleghunter]

Huh. So..... would a Sephardic Jew from Syria be White? What about a Kashmiri? Or a Kurd? Or Ainu? Or Berber?

What about a mostly European guy with one African-American great-grandparent? Or a guy with three German grandparents and one Spokane grandparent? Race can get weird.

I think the race baiters no matter the persuasion fail to realize how intertwined we all are. Especially in the USA where Gen Z has a higher rate of multi-race or multi-ethnic young people. Some I have coached and taught or are family as well just “don’t get” the race baiting for political or social gain.

 

[Alien Lotus]

AfroFuture Fest Organizers Change Decision to Charge White People More for Tickets - Black Enterprise

Thank goodness people spoke up and spoke to the press. This was inevitable. Maybe the charges were to imply without saying outright, this event is not for whites. (But if you want to enter you'll pay double). That way the organizers didn't appear outright to have racist intent.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Always.

My current thought is congratulations. I agree with everything you posted.

ETA
I had another thought, and that is I am annoyed at the attempted misappropriation for the acronym for Proof Of Concept, and am glad their POC POC failed.

Hey.....there's a first for everything, right?

I can understand why they might feel like people of color, having less wealth in general than whites, might have been afforded less opportunities to attend a concert (amongst other things)....I certainly haven't seen any data related to concerts (nor would I expect any to exist)....but the general premise makes sense.

The problem is that being racist against whites doesn't fix this....nor is it justified by this. If it's a problem worthy of attention and a priority....take it up with the artists. If Jay-Z has a concert in the Hamptons where tickets cost 200$ each and 99% of the audience is white...take it up with him. Tell him he's denying his black fans the opportunity to see him and try to convince him to do a concert in a poor section of Detroit for 10$ tickets. It's possible that he won't care about these social issues as much as some do and won't do the show....but it's also possible that he will care a lot and do it for free. I remember Pearl Jam demanding cheaper tickets or something like that back in the day....

Pearl Jam: Taking on Ticketmaster

I find it more concerning the mentality behind this decision. It's hard not to see it as a result of all those discussions about white privilege and racism against whites as "not a real thing". This is speculation of course...but as I always suspected this sort of thing would be the result...I'm concerned we'll be seeing more of it.

 

[dzheremi]

This is one of those "the only way to win is not to play" scenarios, since as I understand the rationale from reading it elsewhere, it is to address how for 350 or however many years, black people were intentionally excluded from community events by being priced out of them in favor of white people. I'm not a historian, so I'll assume that this is true for the sake of argument (seems about right, if we're just looking at the start and end dates of the transatlantic slave trade), but you don't need to be a historian to know that no amount of charging unequal amounts will ever change that fact. So you pay for it once thinking that you're doing something good for race relations or whatever, but then it just keeps happening because, yes, black people were still systematically excluded for 350 years. That fact remains, even if the difference was $5 to $500.

So like a lot of this stuff, I can agree with the reasoning (in the sense of "yes, that did happen, and was/is wrong"), but I am still left to wonder, for those who think that this is somehow a part of 'righting the wrongs of history' or something: what does this actually do?

If we're talking about long term, systemic inequality, the answer to that is not $10 off of a music festival. Are you going to take your $10 and use it to successfully run for city manager or something, so that you can actually have an effect on your immediate surroundings, or are you going to take that extra $10 and just buy some food or something at the festival? (Don't get me wrong: that's good, insofar as it helps out the vendor.) In reality, you're just being fleeced while being made to feel good about it.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Anyone who criticizes them for doing this is a racist according to them. Interesting approach.

I find the justification interesting based on this quote:

"This cycle disproportionately displaces black and brown people from enjoying entertainment in their own communities," the group said on Eventbrite.

They wanted to make sure people of colour, whoever that might be, would not feel over crowded in their own festival. They're arguing that since where the festival is there is a majority of white people they are trying to disincentivize whites from coming to the festival itself by charging them more.

I think it's just intersectionality taken to it's logical conclusion. White people are privileged. Black people aren't. The latter needs spaces and to be subsidized by the former category. Why shouldn't whites pay more per this logic? It's the same thought process that leads to talking about reparations seriously.

 

[Tanj]

but as I always suspected this sort of thing would be the result...I'm concerned we'll be seeing more of it.

You thought someone over charging white people for a concert would be the result, and that we'll see more of it??....

Tonight on Mastermind we have Ana The 1st. Their subject: First World Problems.

 

[Jonaitis]

You thought someone over charging white people for a concert would be the result, and that we'll see more of it??....

Tonight on Mastermind we have Ana The 1st. Their subject: First World Problems.

...you quoted the wrong person

 

[Tanj]

...you quoted the wrong person

Well that's downright weird. My apologies. I'm just going to @Ana the Ist now and they can untangle it if they so desire.

 

[Sketcher]

Yeah, they're racist. Good thing I'm not the least bit interested in the festival.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Is racism a mindset or an action?
I think racism is a mindset. You cannot always see the motivation behind an action. The reason stated may be genuine. They may have really wanted to ensure there was room for people of that culture - the culture to which the music originated. In school the seniors got first pick of seats at graduation. I think these folks could have found another way to guarantee seats for "people of color"... but I would not say their motivation was necessarily racist. The action appeared racist if you insisted on supplying that context. But it does not look like they did this because they hate whites. I think the action only looked racist... but that was not the motivation.
We should give people the benefit of the doubt. It was a dumb way to accomplish what they wanted, but not evil.