Music Festival Charges White People Double for Tickets to Promote 'Equality'
AfroFuture is charging 'non-persons of color' twice as much for tickets
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A music festival in Detroit has been found to be unashamedly charging white people twice the price for the same tickets sold to people of color.
Organizers of the AfroFuture event claim the move will ensure marginalized groups are given “equitable chance at enjoying events in their own community.”
Different pricing structures are offered for the festival, scheduled to take place August 3rd, depending on whether the attendee is white or a “person of color.”
Early bird tickets for white people, or “non-persons of color,” cost $20, compared with $10 for people of color.
White people purchasing tickets closer to the event will pay $40, compared with just $20 for people of color.
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According to Breitbart, the organizers of the event explain the reasons behind their discriminatory system in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section of their website, although it is still unclear how they intend to validate the race and identity of ticket purchasers.
“Why do we have POC (people of color) and NONPOC (white people) tickets?” the page reads.
“I’m glad you asked! Equality means treating everyone the same. Equity is insuring (sic) everyone has what they need to be successful.
"Our ticket structure was built to insure (sic) that the most marginalized communities (people of color) are provided with an equitable chance at enjoying events in their own community (black Detroit).”
Festival charging different prices based on race... đđŸ
— ZUBY: (@ZubyMusic) July 6, 2019
Well done intersectional radicals. You've become the very racists you claim to stand against.
So woke... So very woke. pic.twitter.com/v3YKHpRgRQ
One artist, a mixed race rapper named Tiny Jag, has already pulled out of the event in protest and has demanded her name be removed from all their promotional material.
“I was immediately enraged just because I am biracial. I have family members that would have, under those circumstances, been subjected to something that I would not ever want them to be in … especially not because of anything that I have going on,” she told the Detroit Metro Times.
“It’s non-progressive and it’s not solution-focused in my eyes,” Jag continued.
“It seems almost like it has spite, and unfortunately with spite comes hate, and that’s just not obviously going to be a good direction for us to go if we’re looking for positive change.”
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There are also questions over the legality of such a pricing system, with critics pointing to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Title II which states: “All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”
The act goes on to define places of public accommodation as including “any motion picture house, theater, concert hall, sports arena, stadium or other place of exhibition or entertainment.”
It is not the first time that such entertainment venues have offered race-based pricing structures.
In 2016, the Cinder Block Comedy Festival in New York offered women, people of color, and people who identify as LGBT discounted tickets for the event, while straight white men were asked to pay the full price.
