A music festival that charged white people double for entry as a way of compensating for unfair “privilege” has sparked a fierce debate, with RT panelists locking horns over whether the stunt was forward-thinking or racist.
Afrofuture Fest, a small music event in Detroit, set ticket prices for minorities at $20, compared to $40 for white people. The controversial pricing policy was abandoned after the festival attracted a massive backlash on social media. Several artists and vendors also pulled out of the event, citing concerns about discrimination.
Political commenter Anthony Brian Logan argued that the policy was clearly racist and would have been loudly condemned if the roles were reversed.
What if it were the other way around? What if it was a country music festival and they said, ‘anybody that’s not white, you have to pay double the ticket price.’ What would the reaction be? ‘Oh, you’re racist.’
Reese Everson, an attorney and author, disagreed, describing the unorthodox pricing scheme as a way to help correct historical injustice and to aid the local community, which has suffered from “gentrification.”
The event’s organizers are trying “to fix the issue from the lens of equity versus equality,” she said.
Watch the full debate below.
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