Country Music Association Fest Bans Confederate Flags For First Time [View all]
Source: HUffPost
Jun. 4, 2022, 12:54 AM EDT |
The flags and flag imagery are prohibited to "protect the safety of our fans and ban discrimination," according to a CMA statement.
The Country Music Association has banned all Confederate flags and Confederate “flag imagery of any kind” at its upcoming festival for the first time.
The four-day CMA Fest in Nashville, one of the largest of its kind in the nation, will be held June 9-12 after a two-year suspension due to the COVID pandemic
Barring the Confederate flag was part of the CMA’s updated policy to protect the safety of fans, the organization said in a statement to the Tennessean newspaper.
“This year’s CMA Fest is our first major fan-facing event in nearly three years. We have always had policies in place that protect the safety of our fans and ban discrimination, but we felt it was important to further refine our language to explicitly outline what will and will not be tolerated,” the statement said.
The statement didn’t go into detail about safety issues concerning the flag, but the battle flags can be be intimidating and infuriating, and a flashpoint for conflict and violence.
“Our event policy ... states any behavior that causes one of our attendees to fear for their personal safety will not be tolerated, and that is inclusive of any displays of the Confederate flag,” the statement said.
The move comes amid increasing criticism of displays of the flag and of Confederate monuments.
The flag has been viewed in the past as a symbol of the Southern roots of country music with little sensitivity about the Confederacy’s fight to preserve slavery. But that acceptance of racist emblems has changed as more artists of color have become involved in the genre, and as artists and industry leaders push for racial equality in country music.
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/country-music-association-fest-confederate-flag-ban_n_629ad34de4b0c184bdd14f6b
A move in the right direction.
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