- But first, I wanna share an Instagram post
from a woman who recently felt compelled
to share what it's like attending country music concerts
as a Black country music fan.
Here's some of what she wrote.
"Before you buy tickets to a show,
have you ever looked up the name
of the town slash city and then racism?
I have. I have felt uneasy walking through
a crowd of tailgaters
and seeing Confederate flags flying high,
wishing I was invisible so I could walk through the crowd
without being seen or noticed."
That is horrible.
We have Rachel on the line right now.
Hey, what's up, Rachel?
- Hi, Kelly.
- [Kelly] How are you?
- I'm doing good.
- I love what you posted, and I gotta ask you,
like what inspired you to write your post?
- Well, I grew up listening to country music.
My grandmother is a big country music fan,
she grew up in Georgia,
so I got that love for country music from her.
And you know, with loving country music,
there's a lot of stereotypes with it.
And with what's been going on with George Floyd,
you know, a lot of country artists
have been speaking up about it,
and I was very excited about that
because seeing country artists speak up about it
meant that they see me, and that they hear me.
But at the same time, you know, I saw a lot of comments
where people were going back and forth
about whether or not he should've died.
And that kind of struck a cord with me,
so I took the time to write the post,
and to just speak on the experiences that I have
as a Black country music fan.
- Yeah, I think it's really important.
So tell us more about your experience at country shows.
- Well, I will say that I've never had
a bad experience at a show.
So I've never gone to a show and been like,
man, shouldn't have went there.
But you know, I have experienced a lot of microaggressions.
And there's, it's almost like there's two Rachels.
You know, there's the one Rachel
that can go with her friends and enjoy herself,
have fun, sing, dance, you know, just have a great time,
and then there's the Rachel that is by herself
who kinda has to be cautious, know who's on her left,
who's on her right, who's behind her,
she has to just watch out for that.
There was a show that I went to.
It was in Ohio.
And you know, there was a middle-aged white man
sitting next to me.
And he didn't say a word to me the whole night.
But while a song was playing, it was Chris Stapleton,
you know, I had my foot tapping along to the music,
and I was on my phone texting with my friend,
and you know, he said, "Do you even know who that is?"
And I was like, "Yeah, it's Chris Stapleton."
And then, you know, he was like,
"Well, do you know what song it is?"
And I said, yeah, it's called "Parachute."
And for about 10 seconds, he was just quiet,
and then eventually, you know, he just said,
"Wow, I didn't think that you would know that."
And, you know, to anyone else,
that would just be him asking me a question,
but to me, that was pretty offensive
because it was almost like he was saying,
you know, you're Black, so how do you know country music?
How do you know this song?
- What do you hope...
'cause I know, I do love that you said,
hey, I keep going back to these concerts.
I love going to concerts, I don't want people,
you don't people to dictate your life.
But I love that you've brought up something
that people don't think about.
Because maybe they haven't been directly impacted by it.
So what are you hoping that people
take away from your post?
- You know, I just hope, for one,
that people educate themselves.
You know, educate your families, your friends,
your loved ones, and just teach them
that we all come in different colors, all shades, races,
and that it doesn't matter what's on the outside.
What matters is what's on the inside.
And then also to speak up.
You know, I follow a Black female country music singer
on social media named Mickey Guyton,
and she-- - Yeah, Mickey!
Yeah, and she performed at a show
and someone yelled out a racial slur at her.
And you know, she just had to keep singing
because that's her job.
You know, she's being paid to perform.
And you know, if I were there,
as a Black woman, I would've stepped up and been like,
hey, sir, you know what you just said,
that's not cool, that's pretty offensive.
But you know, if he had that much hate in his heart
to call her that word,
he most likely has that same hate in his heart
to call me that word.
He looks at me the same way as he looks at her
'cause we're the same color.
But you know, if someone who were not of color spoke up
and was like, hey, you know, I heard what you said,
it's not cool, maybe he would've listened to them better
or more because you know, he'd have been like,
I relate to you, we're the same, okay.
I'll listen to you.
So you know, I just think-- - I think you're right.
Yeah, I just-- - I think you're right.
- The conversations with your family and friends
and people around you that you're like,
wait, what'd you just say?
Like you know, - Right.
I think that that's...
And I've had to do that plenty
in conversations with people
about all different things in society,
and I think that that's the only way we're gonna learn
how to be the best versions of ourselves
if you're surrounding yourselves with people
that want you to be the best version of yourself.
Thank you for not giving up on going to concerts
just 'cause there are jackholes out there.
- (laughs) Thank you.
- All right, thank you so much, Rachel,
for sharing your story.