Tiny Jag pulls out of AfroFuture Fest after learning white people would be charged a different price

[MichMan]

Jillian Graham, aka Detroit-based rapper Tiny Jag, pulled out of a local music festival this week because she disagreed with its pay model, in which people of color would pay less for tickets than white festivalgoers.

Graham said she only found out about AfroFuture Fest's pay model when a white friend reached out to her and sent her a screenshot via Instagram that outlined the pay difference. The early bird POC ("people of color" ) ticket was $10 while the early bird "non-POC" ticket cost $20.

"I was immediately enraged just because I am biracial," Graham tells Metro Times. "I have family members that would have, under those circumstances, been subjected to something that I would not ever want them to be in ... especially not because of anything that I have going on."

While the festival organizers declined MT's request for comment, they explained their rationale behind the ticket prices on the festival's Eventbrite page:

Equality means treating everyone the same

Equity is insuring everyone has what they need to be successful

Our ticket structure was built to insure that the most marginalized communities (people of color) are provided with an equitable chance at enjoying events in their own community (Black Detroit).

Affording joy and pleasure is unfortunately still a privilege in our society for POC and we believe everyone should have access to receiving such.

We've seen too many times orgasmic events happening in Detroit and other POC populated cities and what consistently happens is people outside of the community benefiting most from affordable ticket prices because of their proximity to wealth.

This cycle disproportionately displaces Black and brown people from enjoying entertainment in their own communities.

As an Afrofuturist youth lead initiative the voices of our youth inform our resistance.

Here's what they have to say

"If you don't see my Blackness, you don't see me. Periodt!"


[link:https://www.metrotimes.com/city-slang/archives/2019/07/04/tiny-jag-pulls-out-of-afrofuture-fest-after-learning-white-people-would-be-charged-a-different-price-to-attend|

I think the organizers were trying way to hard to be edgy and create a buzz

[rownesheck]

1. I don't see a problem

with their pricing structure. I like that idea.

[MichMan]

2. Don't you think it is probably illegal ?

[brush]

3. Yep, that's discrimination and it's illegal.

Not a smart idea whoever the organizers are.

[Skittles]

4. you think discriminating based on color is a good idea?

[Merlot]

5. They could have found a better way to do this

50% off coupons with outreach to the communities that could most use them. Popular radio stations in the areas could have had give-aways. Schools. churches, gyms could have been contacted.

Would have drummed up publicity as well, but they were lazy.

Kudos to this rapper for pointing this out.

[jcmaine72]

6. This.... Or, they could've charged everyone the same price and....

...donated a percentage of the gate to local youth centers etc. What they're doing is actionable under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000a, which prohibits discrimination based on race in places of public accommodation, such as places of entertainment.

[58Sunliner]

7. How does selling tickets to anyone displace people?

I think they were trying to depress white concert goers. Also @ 77 tickets have been sold, and they only allocated 13 tickets for white people. Two reasons to be sued. And they had to change the price. Eventbrite was going to drop them.

[MichMan]

8. AfroFuture Fest in Detroit changes ticket pricing after backlash over 'non-POC' fee

A Detroit music festival is changing its ticket pricing system after organizers say they were harassed by white supremacists and racist comments.

When AfroFuture Fest, an August Afrocentric music and art festival, opened ticket sales, organizers were charging "early bird" people of color $10 and “non-POC” $20, with other tickets as high as $40 on Eventbrite.

Last weekend, after the event was widely publicized and debated across social media, the national attention prompted organizers to change the pricing to $20 for all attendees.

Organizers originally posted the event with an explanation: The prices were based on the idea of equitable access to festivals, which they said are often cost-prohibitive and do not benefit the black communities that host them.

“Events often designed for marginalized Black and Brown communities can be easily co-opted by those with cultural, monetary, and class privileges,” organizer Numi Ori wrote on Facebook. “Our goal is to ensure that the youth of our communities can participate in the building of a just society; one that promotes EQUITY over EQUALITY.[sic]”

In a Monday post, Ori wrote that she and fellow organizer Franchesca Lamarre were changing the pricing system because of racist harassment. “There is no other reason why. This was for the sake of safety,” she wrote.

“I don’t feel not one ounce of sadness or regret about Franchesca Lamarre and I’s choice for creating this ticket structure,” Ori wrote in a July 5 Facebook post. “...Don’t comment on here about what we could have done differently with the structure. We did what we did and equity matters.”

[link:https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/07/08/afrofuture-festival-detroit-ticket-pricing/1674210001/|