Culture
DJ B-Funk to Raise Funds for Equal Justice Initiative with ‘Trust Me Dance Party: Black is Beautiful’
By: Emily Votaw
Posted on:
Athens’ DJ B-Funk (Brandon Thompson) will be raising funds for the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) with his Trust Me Dance Party: Black is Beautiful Stream Fundraiser Saturday, June 13 starting at 8 p.m. on Twitch.tv at @papabfunk.
Thompson celebrated the three year anniversary of the Trust Me Dance Party, which typically takes place at Casa Nueva, earlier this year, sadly while in quarantine due to the COVID-19 crisis. After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25 and the subsequent international protests against American police brutality and systemic racism in America, Thompson decided it was time for another Trust Me Dance Party, not only for the sake of his own sanity (“it’s like therapy to me,” he told WOUB) but also to raise funds for a good cause.
“One of the things that (the Equal Justice Initiative) does is remembering and finding the history of black people lynched in America. That is a history that our generation is not aware of. People know there were people lynched — but they think that it was localized by the Klan, or just in the south, and that is not true. Racism is still alive in America,” said Thompson. “America deals with the truth that they have lived through. In Germany, they dealt with the (nature of their past) so far as having the Nazis there, but in America there hasn’t been that conversation, we are aware of it, but there hasn’t been any real apology. It just like ‘this happened, but that wasn’t us, and let’s move forward,’ whereas with when we interned the Japanese during WWII, there was a settlement for those people. America said ‘sorry, we didn’t mean to do this,’ on a federal level and dispersed funds to that group. We haven’t quite done that here in America — there have been discussions, and people have said ‘sorry,’ here and there, but there hasn’t been a national true reckoning because a lot of those same people are still in power.”
Thompson said that he decided to donate to EJI because they are an organization that specializes in educating people about mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality.
“My thought is let’s raise some money and send it to the people who do the work. This stuff is tiring. Me just talking to you about this is another conversation and I have been having lots of conversations with people,” said Thompson. “I almost took a mental health day last Thursday because I was just so just drained from everything: having conversations with my white friends about things, but one thing people don’t realize about being black in America is that everyone comes to you asking what they should do. I keep getting that question, and I appreciate it, but it’s like go read a book! Go learn something! So for me, instead of just learning about something, donate to something.”
So far DJ B-Funk has raised over $1,000 in donations thanks to several local businesses that have agreed to match the donations that he will raise during the livestream. Those businesses are Blackout Booking, Casa Nueva, Smiling Skull Saloon, and The Union. If you are interested in matching donations raised, you can contact info@djbfunk.com.
Check out the details on the stream below.
Trust Me Dance Party: Black is Beautiful Stream Fundraiser for Equal Justice Initiative
6-13-20 at 8 p.m. at twitch.tv/papabfunk
RSVP here-> https://www.facebook.com/events/567565143957411/
What: A Virtual Dance Party Fundraiser for Equal Justice Initiative created by DJ B-Funk
The first part of the set will be focused on music made by black artists. Learn more about Trust Me Dance Party (http://www.trustmeparty.com/about.html)
The Smiling Skull, Casa Nueva, The Union Bar and Grill, and Black Out Booking will be matching donations and I will be donating all the funds collected this week to EJI
Ways to Give Below
You can give now or during the stream it’s up to you!
Paypal = PayPal.Me/djbfunk
Venmo = @djbfunk
Cash App = $djbfunk
Give Direct to EJI on their Website:
https://support.eji.org/give/153413/#!/donation/checkout
Please screenshot the receipt of the Donation and send to info@djbfunk.com to be counted. Please block out any private information.