War and Treaty Country duo felt ‘disrespect’ and ‘sadness’ after finding cotton plant in lodge: ‘This just shouldn’t happen’

War and Treaty Country duo felt ‘disrespect’ and ‘sadness’ after finding cotton plant in lodge: ‘This just shouldn’t happen’

The Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds music festival recently apologized to two of its artists.

Ahead of their performance at the event in Austin, Texas, The War and the Treaty country duo, consisting of husband and wife Michael Trotter Jr. And Tanya Trotterhad to deal with an unfortunate situation in their dressing room. The Grammy nominees were faced with an interesting decoration choice: a cotton plant. Speaking about how he felt at that moment, Michael Trotter Jr. said in an interview,

“I felt anger, disrespect, and sadness. Not only because of what this plant represents to people who look like me, but also to myself, because I am a son of this country. I served this country honorably in the United States Army’s 16th Infantry Division, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. I am injured for that service. I talk a lot about my wounds and scars, and I felt betrayed.”

He went on to point out that the incident was something his white singing counterparts did not have to worry about.

“It’s not fair. It’s something that white artists don’t have to worry about at all. (…) It just happens in the guts of this genre. So I think it’s not enough that we talk about it, we have to demand that we talk about it.”

The War and the Treaty They considered leaving the festival, but said their 12-year-old son encouraged them to persevere. Michael Trotter Jr. sharing,

“He said it was not the time to be quiet. He was very upset and he understood exactly what that meant. He was homeschooled and he knows what that means, but he doesn’t know what it means because Ty and I sat down and drilled it into his head.”

Festival organizers apologized in a statement, saying they had “no intention of causing harm.”

“We are disappointed that the artists felt uncomfortable at last weekend’s event. They had no intention of causing harm and we sincerely apologize. Their concerns were immediately addressed, including a sincere in-person apology, removal of the set, and a personal conversation with the artists by the event organizers.”

Tanya Trotter added during their recent interview,

“I didn’t want to sit there and raise awareness because it’s not my job to educate anyone about what cotton is and what it represents in this country. It just shouldn’t be happening. It’s beyond racism now, it’s a bigger issue now. It’s a safety issue now because we need to feel safe coming to these festivals.”

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(VIA: 1,2)