Protesters denounce predominantly white performance at Montreal jazz festival
MONTREAL — About 75 protesters shouted “shame” to evening diners on Tuesday at a sunny terrasse outside a downtown theatre that was hosting a show directed by a white man, featuring a white woman singing songs composed by black slaves.
The sold-out for show by Quebec director Robert Lepage for Montreal’s international jazz festival is a racist appropriation of black culture, said Lucas Charlie Rose, a hip-hop artist who organized the protest.
White people should not be profiting from the history, culture and pain of black people, he said.
“I don’t believe the descendents of the people who wrote these songs are going to see this show,” said Rose, shortly before the protest. “It’s something we see a lot in the entertainment industry — the taking of these stories of black pain and stories of slavery by white people in order to make a profit. That’s what we are against.”