"We, the People" Festival?

Last night I was looking forward to hitting up the We, the People Festival before heading off to Watts for its Jazz Festival.

I had been wanting to go for 2 years straight, but somehow, I was always distracted and had ended up missing both years.

This year I actually remembered seeing a poster for the Festival. This time, I wouldn't miss it --- it now had a seat in my synaptic claft. I would remember to go to it.

Just yesterday, I remembered.

Then I looked at its website.

The first thing that jumped at me when I glanced at the details of this event..."Tickets". That's strange. "Tickets"? To a free event? Maybe it's only 5 bucks?

Yyyy...eah.

Within an Usain Bolt millisecond, the second thing that jumped at me and broke my back was the numerical detail..."$45"...but free if you're under 9 years old!"

Quite the disorientation for me.

Progressive, down-for-the-people talk on the website. Yeah, they were in the hood in Watts. Yeah, they've got Self-Help Graphics as one of their nonprofit people! Yeah, they're giving away tickets to families! Toss in a few buzz words that give off that feeling that the space is meant to be critical, conscious, and about resistance, but if you want to experience that space...that'll be $45 at the door.

$45!

$45 is barely what I made in 6 hours of tv studio watching/temping.

$45 is 3 weeks of groceries or gas.

I'm kind of insulted by their misappropriation of the word "We, the People" because I might confuse them for people who aim to inclusive.

They really should make a slight edit of their title to reflect its targeted audience. We, the petit-bourgeoisie-People-who-could-afford-to-throw-away-45-dollars-for-a-mostly-narrowly-
auditory-experience-Festival. Seems more like a fundraiser than an actual democratic space that is being created...except the funds are going to "help Dre get a new testarossa Ferrari fund."