The Halifax Pop Explosion music festival has issued an apology for the “overt racism” when one of their volunteers refused to “move to the back’ because she’s white.
OK so first let’s clear the air… There are two sides to the story here. I’ll do my best to lay them out for you.
What happened first was Lido Pimienta, and I have no idea who that is but they’re a musician of some sort, asked all white attendees to move to the back during their performance.
There’s your queue right there ^^… that’s not what they’re apologizing for. You see, Pimienta frequently asks this of those attending her performances. She asks the white people to give up their seat for non-white people.
I would call for a boycott but I don’t know who this is.
So the person who refused to move to the back was a photographer. So it’s their job to capture images of the performances, right? How can someone do their job all the way in the back?
And that, my friends, is what the Halifax Pop Explosion music festival is apologizing for.
“We are sorry that one of our volunteers interrupted your art, your show, and your audience by being aggressive and racist,” wrote vice-chairman Georgie Dudka on Facebook.
As reported by David Friend for National Post:
Pimienta’s show had its share of audience tensions, says O’Manique, who highlighted two instances that happened near her in the audience.
“There was a man standing behind me, an older man, who was referring to Lido as a racist because she was dividing the crowd,” she says.
“I also saw two women fighting closer to me, yelling in each other’s faces and giving each other the finger.”
In closing their statement, Halifax Pop Explosion organizers specifically addressed people of colour.
“We are going to try our best as a festival to create ways to make our spaces safer and more accessible for you. We hope we can rebuild some trust and that you will come back to our shows.”