"Memphis" in May

Recently, CNN declared that Memphis is the best city to visit in the world during the month of May. Of course, the reputable news network cited Memphis in May as the major attribution for the city’s homage to a “month-long fete of music, food, athleticism and culture.” 

The upcoming month’s itinerary are as follows:

May 4-6 Beale Street Music Festival

May 7-13 International Salute to the Czech Republic 

May 16-19 World Championship Barbeque Cooking Contest

May 26 Great American River Run / 901 Fest

Although Memphis in May hosts an exciting array of events, there is little to no mention of the city’s history embedded into this narrative. The city props itself up, usually at the location of Tom Lee Park, to create an image of a hip, progressive city. What this means, though, is that the audience of Memphis in May, although inclusive only in name, is predominantly targeted towards middle class residents and tourists. And by middle class, of course that means primarily white folks. The official website itself has pictures of predominantly white people. The cost of tickets to Beale Street Music Festival range from $55-65 for one day to “just” $125 for three-day passes. Music festival culture in general is prominently catered towards the middle to upper classes with its high ticket prices and recreational drug use. Spending a whole weekend to participate in mainstream culture, drink alcohol, and do drugs (not that one is required to do all three) is highly a privilege. Meanwhile, black people are facing the brunt of oppression and being imprisoned for doing the same. Is it really a coincidence that there are not black people depicted from the marketing aspect, perhaps because the masses of black folks in the city are not attending Memphis in May, even though Memphis is majority made up of black residents. This is ironic, because many of the headliners of Beale Street Music Festival are indeed black rappers or hip hop artists commenting on behalf of black culture. It seems as though once again, mainstream culture is appropriating and benefiting from the centuries of work that black people have done in the city culturally, without much inclusion of black folks themselves. 

Is this truly what the actual city of Memphis looks like during the month of May? Just something to think about as we participate in the blasting of music in downtown during Beale Street Music Festival and “celebrate” the history and culture of Memphis.