Phans For Racial Equity

If you haven’t signed the statement pledge, we urge you to take a moment to read it, reflect, sign, and act. Should you have any questions related to the pledge, reach out to [email protected].

The third action item in the statement is as follows:

I pledge to take ongoing action for racial justice in the U.S., including speaking out and using my resources in a way that may make me feel uncomfortable.  If I am white, I commit to prioritizing Black and brown people’s safety over my comfort.

In our ongoing commitment to confront and dismantle white supremacy within the jam band community, we have often found that white fans are unwilling to acknowledge the inequities in the scene and the role they can play in actively course correcting the wrongs that have been done to fans of color. Many have weaponized the concept of “love and light” through spiritual bypassing(1) to deny racial equity so that their experiences remain comfortable and enjoyable for them. Racial equity has also been denied through tone policing(2); if a fan of color feels violated at a show for whatever reason, the white fan has no right to invalidate the experience of the fan of color for the sake of maintaining an environment of “love and light.” Love and light is an empty idea if it is not extended to fans of color, which hasn’t yet happened on the community level.

So what’s something that white fans can do as we await the return of live music to work towards racial equity within and outside of the jam community? Reflect and mobilize. This is going to take a concerted effort among all fans, but an equitable scene -- and an equitable world -- is possible if everyone, especially white people, works together to make it happen.

It should also be noted that standing up for fans of color so that they have equitable experiences does not make white fans heroes; this is the bare minimum that [white fans] should be doing to ensure the healthy, safety, and enjoyment of all.

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(1) Spiritual bypassing is an act of avoiding and repressing difficult situations through a sense of spiritual enlightenment and/or entitlement; it is a defense mechanism.

If you haven’t signed the statement pledge, we urge you to take a moment to read it, reflect, sign, and act. Should you have any questions related to the pledge, reach out to [email protected].

The second action item in the statement is as follows:

I assert and understand that there is white privilege baked into a scene in which 90% or more attendees at any given event are white, and this affects the way we are policed and otherwise treated, and how we treat each other. If I am a person of color, I may wrestle with its consequences. If I am white, I own that privilege and accept the responsibility to push back on it.

Before we can begin to understand the role that white privilege plays in the jam band community, it is important that we have consensus around what white privilege is and what it is not. Teaching Tolerance, a publication of the Southern Poverty Law Center, provides the following examples:

White privilege is having greater access to power and resources than people of color [in the same situation] do.

White privilege is not the suggestion that white people have never struggled.

White privilege is not the assumption that everything a white person has accomplished is unearned.

White privilege is both unconsciously enjoyed and consciously perpetuated. It is both on the surface and deeply embedded into American life.

In the jam band scene, white privilege takes many forms: it’s the comradery that’s felt among white fans that is not necessarily experienced among or extended to fans of color; it’s the alienation that’s felt by fans of color at shows, not only because they are visibly in the minority, but because white fans do not actively make physical and digital spaces inclusive to BIPOC fans; and most notably, white privilege is enjoyed by white jam fans through policing (or more specifically, the lack of policing) at shows and festivals. 

Because jam band shows and festivals are largely attended by white people, the law enforcement and security officers policing the lot, venue, and festival grounds act and respond differently than they would if the jam band scene was predominantly composed of people of color. There is no shortage of illegal activity occurring at shows and other spaces in which the jam band community works and plays, namely illicit drug consumption and distribution. Police often turn a blind eye when white folks commit these acts at shows—or even actively strive to ensure the safety of everyone involved rather than penalize them. In scenes that aren’t so white, police and security are typically there to enforce rather than to protect. This translates to BIPOC fans being more heavily policed and means they cannot always enjoy spaces of leisure in the same way white fans do.

White privilege is not anecdotal. There are research and statistics that prove its existence. In a recent study, Pew Research Center found the following:

Majorities of both Black and white Americans say Black people are treated less fairly than whites in dealing with the police and by the criminal justice system as a whole.

Black adults are about five times as likely as whites to say they’ve been unfairly stopped by police because of their race or ethnicity (44% vs. 9%).

Furthermore, Prison Policy Initiative (PPI), a research and advocacy group, found the following about race and policing in the United States:

Black residents were more likely to be stopped by police than white or Hispanic residents, both in traffic stops and street stops.

Black and Hispanic residents were also more likely to have multiple contacts with police than white residents, especially in the contexts of traffic and street stops. More than 1 in 6 Black residents who were pulled over in a traffic stop or stopped on the street had similar interactions with police multiple times over the course of the year.

When police initiated an interaction, they were twice as likely to threaten or use force against Black and Hispanic residents than white residents.

None of this is accidental. Modern policing in America is deeply rooted in racist history, policies, and practices and is one of the many systems perpetuating white supremacy today. 

If you haven’t signed the statement pledge, we urge you to take a moment to read it, reflect, sign, and act. Should you have any questions related to the pledge, reach out to [email protected].

The first action item in the statement is as follows:

I say loud and clear that #BlackLivesMatter, and that none of us can breathe easy until all of us can breathe freely.

Over the past few months a sea of voices in the United States, as well as worldwide, has been shouting “Black Lives Matter.” We hear chants at protests, see it written on our social media feeds and crosswalks, and see it being used by businesses to claim their stance. The wave is spreading rapidly, but this isn’t the first time Black folks around the world have been trying to share this message.

 In 2013, George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi joined forces to not only create the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, but to create a movement. Black Lives Matter is an intervention, an principle, and arguably most importantly, it is an affirmation to Black folks around the world that their lives matter, despite the way they are treated. As we see a disproportionate amount of civil and police violence, often fatal, toward the Black community, this movement is a radical stance against injustice. 

But what is radical about claiming that Black Lives Matter? The vast majority of complaints about Black Lives Matter comes from the idea that “All Lives Matter.” While this is true, this is not the focus at the moment. When we march and fund raise for breast cancer, we don’t hear people shouting, “What about lung cancer?” When the Pulse shooting in Orlando happened in 2016, we didn’t yell, “Everywhere Strong,” we yelled, “Orlando Strong.” When we see a house burning and someone calls the fire department, we don’t tell the firefighters to spray down every house on the way because “all houses matter.” Right now, the metaphorical home of Black folks in this country is on fire. We can’t afford to wait for firefighters to stop at every house where their services aren’t immediately needed—Black folks are dying every day that we don’t take a stand.  

In the context of the jam band community, unapologetically saying and embodying the sentiments of Black Lives Matter means that we prioritize and value the safety and security of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) fans. It means that we recognize it is a privilege to experience live music (and other spaces of leisure) as a refuge and welcome escape from the complexities of everyday life, while many fans of color simultaneously feel unsafe and ostracized at shows. Yes, it is 2020, and fans of color are still treated differently by fellow fans as well as venue staff and security. Festivals attended by 20,000 white fans openly doing drugs are lightly policed with a focus on keeping everyone safe, while festivals dominated by non-white people are heavily patrolled. As much as we may wish that live music could be ‘love and light’ for everyone, it is still an inequitable experience. An awareness of this inequity and the privileges that whiteness affords fans at shows and beyond is the first step to remedying it—followed by a commitment to take action and educate the fans, bands, venues, and cities/towns that all comprise the jam band community. Love and light must come with action and solidarity. 

But it is not enough to simply say and believe that Black Lives Matter. White fans have to examine their own actions, take ownership of apologize for the transgressions they have made, and take real action to become not just “not racist,” but actively antiracist. As a “well-intentioned” fan base, it will take work to understand where these transgressions occur—not always involving overtly racist behavior or times when Black fans have been physically harmed; it is more often microaggressions committed by unwitting fans, like asking a fan of color if it is their first show when it is in fact their 100th.  For white fans, being willing to look at their own actions with a critical, antiracist lens is a crucial step, so that we can take action to avoid causing harm in the future. If I step on your toe, and when you cry out in pain simply say “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to step on your toe,” but take no action to prevent stepping on your toe again in the future, will you believe I am truly sorry? Even if I didn’t intend to hurt you, I still did - the impact outweighs my intent. I must acknowledge that injury AND show what steps I am taking to prevent it from happening again. The road to racial equity is not paved with good intentions. (You know what they say about that road!).

Welcome to the official Phans For Racial Equity Tumblr. If you haven’t heard of us, please check out our “About PHRE” section on our website.