A Massachusetts college’s Halloween party on Friday night featured one fewer performer than originally scheduled, thanks to an “aggressive” social media backlash over discussions about the band’s racial identity.
Shokazoba, a 10-person Afrofunk ensemble, was slated to play at the Hampshire Halloween event at Hampshire College in Amherst. But the group’s appearance was cancelled by the event organizer, the Hype Committee, after students raised concerns about the band being predominantly white — a discussion that then spiraled into a social media mess.
“The decision by student planners not to have the band perform was not based on the band’s racial identity,” according to a statement from the school. “It was based on the intensity and tone that arose on the event’s planning site on social media, including comments from off campus that became increasingly aggressive, moving from responses to individual student voices to rude, and at times unsettling, remarks.”
In response to the social media backlash, Hype posted on its wiki page that it had deleted some of the offensive comments.
“After discussions within Hype and with other invested Hampshire community members, Hype has decided that we cannot silence students for voicing their opinions because we believe in the freedom of speech, however we have erased the comments on the event page that were disrespectful to both our performers and members of the Hampshire community,” the statement reads.
The band posted its displeasure on its Facebook page, expressing outrage at being considered “too white to play Afrobeat.”
“Racist much? Please protest on our behalf and spread the word,” the band wrote. “Today, we were discriminated against by people who had never even met us or heard one note of our music.”
The group even posted a section of their contract that outlines that all parties signing the contract may not be discriminated based on a number of factors, including race. The band told Fox News that the only reason Hype provided for the cancellation was that students felt unsafe.
“They supposedly champion free speech and free expression,” keyboard player Jason Moses told the news outlet. “And last year at the same party, a band called Zongo Junction played – they’re an all-white Afro-beat band from Brooklyn. That show was a success without incident.”
Shokazoba later posted on its Facebook page that censorship is “problematic” and said the performers hoped to continue talking about issues of race. The group also apologized for any offense it might have caused.
According to the school’s statement, the band was still paid in full. The school also expressed that the band could talk to the dean of students to address any additional grievances.
” Unfortunately, voices unconnected to our campus and the planning for Hampshire Halloween drowned out what should have been a reasonable conversation both about how to ensure that the entire student community could have a safe and happy evening and about greater social issues,” the statement concluded.
