Photo Courtesy of Amanda Lowe from Feminine People of Colour in Music Collective (Ottawa).

It has recently come to the attention of Ottawa’s Black Lives Matter chapter that the Confederate flag was worn by most-likely a media accredited photographer on the 2015 RBC Bluesfest grounds. The Black Lives Matter - Ottawa Coalition and many of the Ottawa area population on social media will not stand for Confederate flag presence in the capital of Canada or anywhere on this unceded land.

The Confederate flag still being represented, for example on state property, on store shelves, on clothing, and in prominent music scenes, has been a continuous past African-Americans (And African-Canadians) have had to face for nearly a century and a half now. This representation has been continuous in Canada, and due to recent events, we are standing up and will no longer let it stand like the many corporations and companies that have recently stopped production and sales of the flag.

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"America's oldest and largest flag manufacturer, Annin Flagmakers, announced it would stop making and selling the Confederate flag. The company has been in business since 1847." 

And Canada's The Flag Shop Followed:

"Canada's The Flag Shop also decided to stop selling the Confederate flag."

Though, its sale and production are still prominent by others:

"The Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that works to preserve the history of the Confederacy, sells multiple items online with the flag printed on them. It says the people who fought for the Confederacy were heroes who wanted to preserve liberty and freedom guaranteed to them by the Constitution, according to the group's website, and that the Confederate flag is a symbol of that belief." (x)

With the rising awareness of the Confederate past, and the flag’s representation to many, many African-American’s (And African-Canadian’s), the allowance of the flag being represented on the grounds of a Royal Bank of Canada funded music festival is beyond unacceptable, inappropriate, and harmful to the past people of colour share in both the United States and Canada.

We stand with our taken Black brothers and sisters in Charleston, & in defence against the values the flag was founded on and that are used against many to this day.

A Windsor, Ontario vendor took action towards the Confederate flag being represented at one of their Summerfest booths. The flag was taken down when information on the recent case of the Charleston murders was shared with the vendor and some history of the Confederate flag’s past was shared.

"You know once I gave him sort of my Coles Notes version of the history there behind the Confederate flag, and walked him through a little bit of what happened in Charleston, the flag was down, or the blanket was down within minutes," said McKenzie." (x)

It's time for the festival in the capital city to take action. If “Staff and management reserve the right to refuse entry or eject patrons based on clothing or apparel deemed to be inappropriate or offensive,” on Bluesfest grounds, why was this attire deemed appropriate and not offensive?

We do not only see this as inappropriate and offensive, but we see it as dangerous, alarming, and a reason to not feel safe attending Bluesfest.

This is not the first time Confederate flags have been seen on the grounds of Bluesfest in Ottawa. Vendors in the past have made Confederate flag items available for buy, and with the upcoming Lynyrd Skynyrd show on Tuesday, July 14th, we are concerned for the band’s presence at RBC Bluesfest 2015. We will not tolerate Lynyrd Skynyrd’s frequent representation of the Confederate flag on Bluesfest grounds.

We as a collective want action from Bluesfest to be in the same manner to as the action that was taken in Windsor when they were confronted with this issue. With attempts to contact Bluesfest on this issue ignored from some, and/or not received well, we are taking actions into our own hands.

Our demands:

1. A public acknowledgement and public apology from Bluesfest
2. A public acknowledgement and public apology from the Royal Bank of Canada
3. A release of the accredited media outlet this photographer was shooting under that is mandatory when shooting with professional camera equipment.
4. A public acknowledgement and public apology from the accredited media outlet.
5. Reinforced and specify regulations towards clothing, apparel, banners, and vendor items deemed to be inappropriate or offensive on Bluesfest grounds stated in the House Policies.

Added July 20th:

6. Volunteer feedback survey must include a question on the comfort of volunteers and a ranking system of how safe they felt working on Bluesfest grounds and why.

7. Stricter security enforcement on their own House Policies (eg. Cameras, Inappropriate clothing)

8. An acknowledgement and apology from Bluesfest on the unacceptably lenient approach to security vis-à-vis racist and anti-Black apparel throughout the festival.

 

Black Lives Matter - Ottawa Coalition hopes that none of the above mentioned organizations and companies support the foundation of government that the Confederate flag was founded on in 1861:

"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth…" (x)

Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (Cornerstone Speech, 1861)

This is for the lives that have been taken in the name of the Confederate flag. This is for the lives that are still being effected to this day by what the Confederate flag represents.

Thank you, Amanda Lowe, Annette Ejiofor, and many others who have helped this story become what it is; a conversation on a racist past.