written by
Mizuki Asakura

Black Out Tuesday:Music industry calls for a day of observance to “provoke accountability & change”

Features 6 min read

In response to George Floyd's death last week, the music industry sets initiatives to call for action via “Black Out Tuesday”

Photo by Julio Cortez/AP/Shutterstock

George Floyd, an African-American male has died due to excessive force by the local police authorities of Minneapolis, USA. In response, many major cities across the United States have staged demonstrations, and in many cases, these demonstrations have escalated into violent conflicts. The sight of arson, graffiti, and looting can be seen everywhere, almost giving people a glimpse of what the city of Los Angeles looked like in 1992 during the LA Riots.

In addition to the persisting COVID 19 complications, the issue of racial discrimination has become another catalyst for tearing apart the American society once again. Hashtags reading #BlackLivesMatter and #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd instantly became a trending label in the Internet community. In an attempt to call for unity, accountability, and change, the music industry has taken an initiative to observe a "blackout" today, June 2nd. DJs, international music festivals, electronic music labels, and executives of the industry have voiced their support for Black Out Tuesday as seen below:

1. Steve Aoki

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#blacklivesmatter #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd

A post shared by Steve Aoki (@steveaoki) on

2. Calvin Harris

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The George Floyd murder, and that it was captured on video had me thinking how many innocent black men and women have suffered without the luck of it being recorded on a smartphone for all to witness. I remembered watching the Philando Castile murder at the hands of the police a few years ago...he was shot 5 times at point blank range in his car while his girlfriend filmed from the passenger seat. That video had me in tears, but I had no idea how any action I could take would help the situation. Ultimately I decided to let other people do the posting as I felt my opinion wasn’t worth shit in the grand scheme of things, plenty of people said their piece way more eloquently than I ever could I thought, so best leave it alone...I’ll stick to music. Truth is, as a white man it was my privilege to push that back into my subconscious and carry on with life as normal - because I had that choice - not realising my not speaking up was a huge fuck you to so many of my peers and friends and all of my musical heroes who live this reality every day. And to be clear, I owe 100% of my entire career to the struggles of black people, the creativity that was born out of their oppression. And if you’re a musician, then you do too. I want to encourage anyone reading this who feels as though these situations are beyond their means to help, or those who found the riots provoked more of a response within them than the actual murder, that a good place to start - that is entirely within your control - is to take responsibility to educate yourself. Don’t be a fucking racist is a great start, and letting people know that is never going to be a bad thing. But not being racist isn’t enough anymore, a full re-education is required. There is a world of information online and in books that can explain the reality of systemic racism better than any DJ’s Instagram post ever could. I don’t know about you, but at school I was brainwashed into believing education was supposed to be passive. I sat there in the classroom and assumed everything the teacher was telling us was accurate...but especially when it comes to history, it’s always just one side of a story. *continued in comments below

A post shared by Calvin Harris (@calvinharris) on

3. Zedd

4. Skrillex

5. Diplo

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Its uncomfortable work to be a white person and taking responsibility to change the way our society views life, but it has to be done. this post is long and its not gonna be easy to read and its probably going to make people mad... But Imagine being pinned down on the hot concrete for five minutes begging to breath. the pressure on your head makes your nose bleed, you black out and you die. Even watching that video made it so I couldn't sleep for two nights. It doesn't feel good to see something like this happen to my country and our people But there isn't a way to imagine being a Black American. It must feel suffocating, it must feel claustrophobic, It must feel hopeless sometimes like a foot is literally on your neck every day. Yes we made progress as a society but its obvious its not close to enough. if I was there I wouldn't have been killed because Im white and I think thats a fact. George Floyds life is over. his daughter grows up with no father. I imagine if I was young person living in Minneapolis i'd be one of these kids on the street rioting because for a moment I feel rage and i'm mad and it looks like there is an enemy that's clear. but there isn't. There is this feeling that it was ok to treat George Floyd like he wasn't human and that's whats broken in America. I don't think burning down autozone or starbucks will fix anything but the real question is where do we go from here? I don't have an answer but I think having empathy for our neighbors is a good start. Minneapolis is such a diverse city with such a strong music community. I thought something like this wouldn't happen there but thats just another way for us to normalize. Racism is real and if you deny that you are a lunatic. we are a beautiful country and beautiful people but it took acts of murder on video in broad daylight to expose this racism. I want to help, im just going to leave videos of people rebuilding Atlanta and Minneapolis this morning together because thats what we have to do tommorow when we wake up.

A post shared by Thomas Wesley (@diplo) on

6. Marshmello

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#justiceforgeorgefloyd #blacklivesmatter

A post shared by marshmello (@marshmellomusic) on

7. Alan Walker

8. Kayzo

9. Spinnin Records

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#THESHOWMUSTBEPAUSED

A post shared by Spinnin' Records (@spinninrecords) on

10. DJKHALED

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🤲🏽

A post shared by DJ KHALED (@djkhaled) on

The list of artists, organizers, executives, and fans supporting the movement are growing every second.

#blacklivesmatter
#theshowmustbepaused

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#CalvinHarris #SteveAoki Zedd
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