Here at the Hayride, we have a good bit of appreciation for the Essence Festival, the “preeminent experience of all things Black” which takes place in New Orleans every summer.

Essence fills up hotel rooms and restaurants for five days when the city would otherwise be completely dead, as late June-early July is probably the most uncomfortable time of the year weather-wise and New Orleans’ tourist economy wouldn’t otherwise be able to generate much in the way of economic activity.

So we’d like to see it do well.

On the other hand, there seems to be a rather strange definition of what constitutes a “preeminent experience of all things Black” going on at the Essence Festival.

You probably saw this clip of singer and actress Jill Scott butchering the national anthem which some rather non-standard lyrics…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1tyFi-BTW0

That ought to have offended every American who heard it. Apparently it didn’t offend the Essence crowd too badly, as you can’t hear much in the way of booing from the crowd (though it did seem like the applause was less enthusiastic than it might have been).

One thing which has now become a staple of Essence Festival fare is an appearance and interview with Kamala Harris, the vice president who lacks a bit in the eloquence category. You get the impression that the organizers are doing what they can to keep her relevant, which wouldn’t be something you’d think they’d need to do given that she’s the highest-ranking American politician of part-African descent.

But at some point you’ve got to move on from this, no?

How can we be so sure Joe Biden will be the 2024 democrat nominee despite his dementia and deterioration?

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Vice President, Kamala Harris
pic.twitter.com/PsvIFDbUJP

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) July 7, 2023

But the big reason we’re going to need to see better out of the Essence Festival is this…

A New Orleans bookstore’s event to promote Black authors was abruptly shut down after the Essence Festival of Culture alleged it violated a new city law against competition in some of the city’s tourist-heavy areas.

Lawyers representing the festival issued a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to Baldwin & Co., a Black-owned coffee and bookstore business, and the author event organizers, Lit Diaries LLC, saying it used its trademark to mislead customers.

Store owner Dernell “DJ” Johnson called the temporary restraining order demanding the scheduled Friday event closure ironic and troubling.

“Such actions are not only unjust but also tarnish the reputation of Essence and raise questions about its commitment to supporting the Black community as a whole,” Johnson said.

Friday morning a Baldwin & Co. post on Instagram announced “All Lit-House Events happening on June 30th” at the bookstore were canceled. The festival said they used the Essence name illegally and violated New Orleans’ “clean zone” law. Civil District Judge Richard Perque signed the restraining order, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

Clean Zones are areas around Essence festival events where other events and vendors are banned unless permitted through the city. The clean zone measure says from June 26 at 6 a.m. until Monday at midnight, no one except those approved by City Hall and Essence may advertise or sell merchandise associated with the festival in an area that includes the Caesars Superdome, the Central Business District, Warehouse District, French Quarter and parts of Faubourg Marigny, the 7th Ward and Treme. The law also forbids other outdoor events and festivals in the area during that time period.

If these guys are supposed to be promoting all things “Black,” and if they advertise a whole host of business-oriented events as part of their festival, then open hostility to black-owned businesses like this makes a lie out of their messaging.

And yes, the festival is going to want to capture as much of the activity around its event as possible.

But what good does it do the business community – and especially the black business community – in New Orleans if they’re barred from any efforts to promote themselves when the Essence Festival is going on?

Louisiana Economic Development is one of the sponsors of the Essence Festival. We’d like to see LED take a lot harder line on this – the businesses in New Orleans who ply their trade, put their people to work and pay their taxes all year long ought to be free of legal harassment from something that Louisiana’s taxpayers are subsidizing.

This isn’t good enough. This looks like a grift that Louisiana’s Democrat politicians are using to promote themselves at the expense of regular folks. And if we’re going to get offensively anti-American songs and legal action against local merchants for our tax dollars, then maybe this festival can make its way with purely private-sector funding.