I wasn’t going to write about Coachella this year because i’m tired of making fun of white girls in ass shorts. But, as you might gather from the above image, this year is different. Shortly after Vince Staples called the main stage at Coachella the “white people’s stage” this weekend, Beyoncé became the first black woman ever to headline the festival, and by all reports, she blew the lid off the festival. With a 24 (or 28, depending on whether you count Jay-Z and interludes)-song set as a tribute to black universities, she pulled over 100 marching band players,singers, and step dancers from those schools to join her. She owned it so thoroughly that it’s now called Beychella, which should be a surprise to no one.
Citing other artists of color performing this week, (The Weeknd, Vince Staples, SZA, Cardi B, Migos, Kali Uchis…), the LA Times reports, “Coachella wants to matter”, which is an interesting choice of words: recall what else urgently and vocally matters. Are we all there? If it’s *black artists* making *Coachella matter*… you fill in the rest.
We all heard about the two black guys who were arrested at a Starbucks for sitting down without buying anything as they waited for their meeting to arrive? Starbucks has apologized, fired the employee who called the police, and planned a mass temporary closure for employee bias training. While we all shake our heads at this one, let’s take a second to survey the other race initiatives Starbucks has taken in the past couple of years: 1. They declared themselves a sanctuary establishment for people to camp out in when they felt unsafe outside (how’s that going); 2. around when #blacklivesmatter was just taking hold as a movement with a name, they instituted a program where their baristas would write prompts to talk about racial issues on coffee cups, which is nothing if not weird. Recently, they’ve opened a location in Bed Stuy where they employ 95% local residents and hold a huge focus on job training, and have committed to expanding their local-employment footprint in other, similar communities. See also: their excellent employee benefits (full healthcare, free education from AZ State). So, Starbucks, we see that you’re trying. We also see that you’re messing up sometimes. How’s that for a conversation prompt.
I guess when your Grammys are routinely stolen…
No but for real, bravo to the selection board for naming the first-ever work of hip hop with their prize; for recognizing the value in DAMN, in the medium, and in Kendrick’s poetry, history, and theater lessons (those mediums have been recognized by the Pulitzer committee before, right?). The Pulitzer committee is historically bad at recognizing cultural contributions from ‘outside the [white] institution’; for reference, the first jazz Pulitzer was awarded in 1997 to Wynton Marsalis for Blood on the Fields. Jazz. 1997. (They turned down Duke Ellington in 1965.) But, as Doreen St. Felix explains in her New Yorker article, an important lesson to take from this is that hip hop doesn’t need the establishment to succeed. It’s gotten snubbed for recognition its entire life, and nonetheless it manages to evolve and thrive. Damn.
Here is a list of black-owned coffee shops in Brooklyn. And another one for Philly. You know what to do– buy that coffee. (And google the spots in your city if you’re not in NY or PA.)
