A Music Festival Charged White People Double, and a Backlash Followed

At a time when reparations are subject of debate, the organizers of an Afrofuturist music festival in Detroit neighborhood that will take place in August charged white people twice as much to attend. A backlash followed, as media outlets like The Washington Post reported.

According to the article, the organizers said they saw "people of color getting shut out of events in their own communities because they didn’t have the resources to snag tickets the moment they went on sale."

"Black and brown people," one of the event’s organizers explained on Twitter, "deserve access to quality events in their city and it isn’t fair when events happen in their city that they don’t have a chance of being apart of because people who don’t look like us take advantage and also have more access to collective wealth."

The Washington Post explains,

With that disparity in mind, organizers came up with a race-based pricing model for the Aug. 3 event. Early-bird tickets purchased before July 17 cost $10 for people of color and $20 for white people. General admission would be $20 for people of color, and $40 for whites. A portion of proceeds would go back to Afrofuture Youth, the community initiative hosting the event.

The Root reported that Numi Ori, AfroFuture Youth founder and co-director, claimed that she and her family, and the owner of the venue hosting the festival, "have been targeted by a relentless barrage of threats and harassment. As such, she’s made the decision to instead charge anyone who attends a flat rate—with a caveat."

Read here The Washington Post article.

Image: AfroFuture Fest / Eventbrite