The wrong way to build support

So, this weekend I joined Pat and Tom to go to an outdoor concert put on by a community organization in Mount Pleasant. The concert was to protest (and raise awareness of) a current ban on live music in Mt. Pleasant establishments. There is a concern among some residents that live music clubs will turn Mt. Pleasant into another Adams Morgan and result in dance clubs, noise, increased crime, etc. I went to this outdoor event feeling fully in support of the concept of lifting this ban - thinking that people were entirely overreacting by banning music outright. While I still support that, the event left a decidedly bad taste in my mouth.

The first act (the only one I saw) was a hip hop duo performing with mics and turntables. They were relatively talented, but the lead singer managed to turn me off to the point that I ceased thinking about the issue he was supposedly there to promote. In between each song he harassed the crowd about not dancing or even bobbing their heads - about standing too far away or not rushing to buy their CDs or T-shirts. Even worse, he gave equal time to bemoaning the horror of gentrification and blaming the ills of the neighborhood on anyone who hadn't been born in the same hospital he had.

In fact, I kept a running tally of the groups this man identified as being "against" music in DC. This included all Republicans, white folks, anyone who didn't work in the service industry, people not actually born and raised in the District, and anyone who had moved to Mt. Pleasant in the past three years. The audience was probably 10% black, 40% Latino, and 50% white and, based on the hand survey he took, only a few listenners worked in the service industry. Based on his definitions, most of the people there to support the cause should be against it. This man vacillated between berating the people there to listen to him and hassling them about not dancing and acting more interested in his performance. His special message to the "undercover police officers of color that I know are here" made him seem especially out of kilter with the supposed spirit of the event.

This guy might know something about hip hop, but he doesn't know the first thing about building a coalition. Step one is to define "your side" as broadly as possible so people will feel that your plight is their plight. I left before the end of their act - never having heard about how I can help or even signing a petition. Pity.