Bluesfest, probably the most prominent of Ottawa’s music festivals, has found itself at the centre of the discussion around race and racism – and not for the first time.
Last year, Bluesfest welcomed a diverse line of artists, with Kanye West as its headliner. Yet, some attendees complained of feeling uneasy on Bluesfest grounds, as a man was seen in the crowd wearing the Confederate flag on his shorts, a mere month after nine people were shot dead in a Charleston church, during a prayer service. Dylann Roof, who’s accused of the killings, reportedly wanted to start “a race war.” Pictures were found of him hailing the Confederate flag – the same banner used by a well known hate group, the KKK.
At the time, Bluesfest was criticized for allowing the man on their grounds, creating an unsafe space for their attendees, and not releasing a proper public apology.
Fast forward to this past weekend, Bluesfest has returned and at it, perceived anti-black sentiments. On July 9, the British rock band, Official Cult, said to a large crowd of attendees that “all lives matter.” It was uttered by the band’s frontman, Ian Astbury, as he went on to say, “It ain’t a race thing, it’s a people thing.” Official Cult has since apologized for their insensitive (and factually incorrect) statement, but the damage is done.
The damage was done last year at Bluesfest, but its been made permanent this year.
Why do Black Lives Matter? Why not all lives matter? The appropriation of “black lives matter” – as we’ve seen following the attacks in Dallas that left five police officers dead and eight injured (plus two non-police hurt) with the use of “blue lives matter” – is a trivialization of a significant issue with deep historical roots.
Every last life on this earth matters – not one life is more valuable than the other. But for hundreds of years, black lives have been the target.
In 1799, Charles White’s An Account of the Regular Gradation in Man, and in Different Animals and Vegetables, arranged the Chain Of Being as God first, white people, non-white people, with blacks at the bottom. This was accepted as the leading colonial theory of race as it was believed human races could be lined up from most superior to most inferior.
Anti-blackness is in how black people are both misrepresented in media – TV, film, advertisements – and how they are not represented. It’s in how non-black people have no problem stealing or appropriating black culture, misnaming hairstyles, stealing musical sounds, but then deeming it too controversial when we simply stand up for our human rights.
It’s in how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not one black individual in his cabinet, and in how Sophie Grégoire Trudeau felt it appropriate to sing a song to her daughter on Martin Luther King Day. It’s in how when black people speak on race and racism, an issue known and experienced first-hand, others tell them they know it better.
Chain of Being, or not, black people know their place in society because it is consistently illustrated.
Priding itself on diversity and multiculturalism, Canada has to do better. Being the nation’s capital, racism, and anti-black sentiments, have no room in our strides to progress.
Bluesfest, it has no room in yours either.
Annette Ejiofor is a local journalist, advocating for the importance of those voices marginalized and oppressed, to be heard.