I recently decided to pull out of the Montreal Jazz Festival because of their endorsement of a 16-night performance of a show called SLĀV, in which white artist Betty Bonifassi, who has been touring the world performing African-American slave songs for years, leads a group of mostly-white performers, oft dressed as cotton pickers and field slaves. The show is meant to make some grand statement about oppression throughout time, and, I guess, the universality of struggle? When protests of the show were ignored, I decided to write a letter to the festival programmers explaining why I was pulling my performance. To their credit, they were very open to listening to my concerns, and eventually amended their position. Here’s my letter in full:
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I’m happy to hop on the phone with you, but I am much more eloquent in writing, so wanted to write out my thoughts to you first instead of trying to explain them over the phone.
I found your brief email to my agent condescending, suggesting that the protests against the show were the reason I found it offensive. I didn’t need to hear an editorialized version of the story in order to form an opinion – the show immediately struck me as distasteful when I first heard about it, before the protests. Also to be told that Betty is “a friend to the community” as a reason for the show being okay is even more condescending; it’s the equivalent of saying “I have a black friend so I can sing the *n* word” or something. I can assure you that Betty is no friend of mine. Anybody who speaks (or in this case, sings) over people of color instead of listening to them when they voice their hurt is not a friend.
To be frank, I don’t think Betty Bonifassi, Robert Lepage, or MTL Jazz Fest are authorities on race. Especially since racial dynamics in Quebec are quite different than those in America. I don’t even think I am an authority on race, and I’m an actual African American with a 2nd degree in African American studies. However to try to tell us why it is okay for white people to take slave songs and repurpose them as they see fit is to imply not only that you are authorities on the topic, but also that you know better than us about our own pain and culture and history.
There’s nothing wrong with white people wanting to make work about slavery. The way it is executed in this show, however, is appropriative, hegemonic, and neo-imperialistic. (At $60-$90 tickets… I much would have preferred seeing actual black Americans sing their own slave songs.)
Possibly what I find most offensive about this show is the response to the backlash from Betty, the director, and MTL Jazz Festival. It is clear that you are more interested in keeping the show going than actually listening to black people and considering their viewpoints. I am particularly disturbed by the push for colorblindness, as it reveals a lack of knowledge on how racial parity is actually achieved. To quote Betty: “I don’t see colour; to me, it doesn’t exist” and “All cultures and ethnicities suffer the same.”
And to quote the festival, you claim to build an environment where “…there is no race, no gender, no religion and all human beings are equal.”
This forced ideology is both counterproductive and dishonest. Clearly, you all see race because you’re putting on a show about race (and white people are coming out in droves to see it for top dollar). But also, the solution to racism is not to erase race altogether. Race must be seen in order for people of color to be heard. Often when white liberals move to “not see race,” whiteness becomes the default mode of acceptable behavior, and white voices become prioritized in art and work spaces, all because white culture is the dominant culture in the West. This is Race Theory 101 and anyone putting on a show incorporating Black experiences should already know this.
Now to address the quote “all cultures and ethnicities suffer the same,” and the fact that this show is not just about African-American slavery. You must understand that the transatlantic chattel slave trade was incomparable to other types of slavery for several reasons – its scale (about 12.5 million slaves were taken from Africa), its severity, and its modern legacy – after 200+ years of legal slavery, descendants of slaves are still at the bottom of every society they were integrated into, are still being imprisoned, policed, and murdered at unjust rates. (I’m sure you know this.) And to make matters worse, their songs are taken from them by white people and performed to rooms full of other white people for high ticket prices. Yes, that’s the part you play in this. So while I understand that this show is drawing comparisons between different types of slavery and indentured servitude throughout time, even that part is shaky considering how shallow that comparison is, and to quote the Gazette, I believe the show “perpetuates the very inequalities it purports to address.”
I am aware that the show starts with a black singer. I’m also aware that there are no black people in Betty’s original Lomax group that she’s been performing these songs with for years. The point you are missing is that there is no context in which white people performing black slave songs is okay. Especially not while they are dressed like poor field workers or cotton pickers. Especially not while they are directed by a white director and in a theater charging loads of money. This kind of black imitation is very reminiscent of blackface minstrel shows. The only thing missing is black paint.
Those are my initial thoughts. I am open to hearing yours. Thanks for creating a space for a dialogue – I sincerely hope it’s with the intention to listen (this time) and not just defend your position.
