Austin Justice Coalition's founder Chas Moore, Black Lives Matter and other racial justice and equity groups targeted Austin's Live Music Fund this summer. COVID offered new opportunities for relief monies when SXSW, Austin's historic and iconic venues, and world class musicians were shut down. The bar, restaurant and music industry purports to be the largest employer of the City. However, according to these activists, the City of Austin suffers from institutional racism and demands are being made for equity and reparations. A Chronicle November 25, 2016 article announced Mayor Adler's task force to target systemic racism in Austin. Austin Justice Coalition's successful defunding the police campaign and championing of Austin's Reimagining Public Safety led to the establishment of a police oversight office to focus on white supremacy, racism and police brutality. Austin's enormous music industry is not exempted from the scrutiny.
A Chronicle July 10, 2020 article quotes the Austin Music Commissions' Vice Chair Jonathan "Chaka" Mahone: "Stand with me, and call for reinvestment in Black musicianship via a Black Live Music Fund so that we can take back some of what has literally been stolen for generations". The Music Commission voted to form a "systemic racism" working group focused on both a cultural heritage district and Black Live Music Fund. On July 29, 2020 The Chronicle reports that the Austin City Council declared racism a public health crisis and approved a number of racial equity proposals. The campaign led to a 50% split moving the money from the LMF to a Black Indigenous Persons of Color (BIPOC). It is a racial equity fund with a Systemic Racism Working Group operating as an oversight committee to ensure that white supremacy was not prevalent in the music community. The "black only fund" failed. The Austin Music Disaster Relief Fund race or ethnicity of a professional musician metric shows 8% black versus 50% white of the 1571 inquiries for relief made as of August 27, 2020. The inquiries were predominantly for rock musicians and scaled down in number by genre, not skin color. Numbers are similar for the 126 creative space/venue CEO inquiries where 4% were black and 55% were white.
Chaka Mahone: Getty Images/360.com
In the Chronicle October 20th article, Mahone opines that not only should "venues be preserved but the culture upon which they profit" through preservation, innovation and elevation goals. However, money for "elevation" should be allocated to organizations and leaders who have ideas for building infrastructure that leads to greater awareness of the vibrant BIPOC music scene that currently exists. Malone claims that “As a music community, we responded quickly to find emergency funds for musicians affected by the pandemic, but the traumatic and destructive virus of racism and white supremacy has yet to be addressed through policy or funding in the music sector".
Such a leader with ideas is Chas Moore, founder of the Austin Justice Coalition, who imagines a utopia achieved through a reparations conveyor belt where whites relinquish their wealth and privilege to blacks. He imagines a world without without police, and a black world entirely separate from the white one. Chas wants capitalism torn down and an equitable society rebuilt and he blames all of society's problems on white systemic racism and oppression. Chas' solution is for blacks to stop working and contributing to the evils of capitalism. In other words, Marxism.
Austin Justice Coalition Founder Chas Moore
Chas has a felony criminal record including a Class 2 Felony for robbery, yet he sits on the Austin City Reimagine Public Safety Task Force and diligently works towards defunding the Austin Police Department. He appears to be the most quoted black voice in Austin. Chas is an appointee of the Civil Rights Advisory Council, yet he partners with violent radicals such as Austin Red Guard, Antifa, and the Mike Ramos Brigade who led and participated in Austin's summer long Black Lives Matter unrest. Many were arrested for rioting, looting, burglary, property damage, and assaults on police officers as KVUE reports.
This shocking video from an anonymous source highlights some of Chas Moore's ideology.
How does a program to rid the Austin music scene of white supremacy work exactly for the venues, the bands, the sound crews and the music itself? Will the talent pool, lyrics and clothing be scrutinized? Where does this stop once it begins?
In order to receive COVID relief funds, the entities must present a detailed equity plan in the application process. The Austin Live Music Venue Preservation Fund and Austin Legacy Business Relief Grant core program components require applicants to participate in a legal and financial evaluation. They must also complete "technical assistance" requirements that equates to cohort style courses, and producing equity strategic plans during this phase. In other words, systemic racism training and scrutiny through one-on-one counseling, observation, evaluation, questionnaires and scorecarding. Will the racism score results be published? You have to look deep to navigate the Austin Texas dot gov pages. On December 3, Austin City Council voted on Items 11-13 to establish enhanced program guidelines for the Preservation Fund to help venues impacted by COVID. For many, it is too little too late. Mask and social distancing restrictions alone are impossible to comply with as a musician and for most venues. Austin is being canceled.
Chas Moore and Austin Mayor Steve Adler
CANCEL CULTURE TACTICS VIA TEXTBOOK MARXISM
With the help of comrade City Council members Gregorio Casar and Mayor Adler, power grabber Chas Moore and his cohorts continue to find opportunities to cancel Austin's culture by attacking capitalism and positioning themselves as the "organizations and leaders" that do receive grants and non-profit money. They present themselves as traumatized victims who are owed reparations. This can only be achieved by forcing whites through resolutions and policies to relinquish their privilege and their wealth, and they must be trained, observed, evaluated and scored. Venues must comply if they want to continue to operate and receive disaster funds. Cancel Culture tactics being applied are mob pressure, public denouncing and isolating opponents through social media, humiliation and physical intimidation, moral grandstanding concocting racism and bigotry narratives where they do not exist; flagrant disregard for the truth, evidence or logic; disinformation, disregard for due process or the law, gaslighting though the mainstream media, and targeting employers, friends and family. Under Maoism, this is authoritarian enforcement of new cultural norms.
Austin musicians and venues do not need a racism oversight committee to rid the music community of white supremacy. It is a FALSE campaign. Austin should not apply any funds whatsoever for Black Lives Matter racism against whites. Cancel the oversight committee!