A Black Lives Matter nonviolent protest at a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride festival in Little Rock was disrupted when event staff members tried to take back the microphone and shoo the group off stage, and police were called to the scene.
In a video posted on social media, roughly a dozen activists gathered Sunday to protest Club Sway, a popular gay nightclub in Little Rock that regularly hosts drag performances.
Protesters were upset by a previous show in which a white drag queen called himself an “Ebony Enchantress,” wore a long braided wig and smashed and ate watermelon on stage, Black Lives Matter member Zachary Miller wrote in a Facebook post.
Both Club Sway and the drag queen issued apologies in July, co-owner Jason Wiest said. The group did not accept them, saying the owners did not take responsibility for their actions, Miller wrote.
As protesters held up posters and addressed the crowd, a Little Rock Pride staff member tried and failed to pry the microphone from a member’s hands.
“We are here today to take a stand and let people know there is no pride in racism,” announced a demonstrator, who was met with cheers.
“Sway has perpetuated nothing but violence toward black people as well as taken from our culture,” she added, at which point people started booing.
Then the microphone's sound was cut, loud music started playing on speakers, and event staff members and police ushered the protesters off stage. At one point, an officer took out and pointed a stun gun at a Black Lives Matter member, according to a photo taken by one of the activists.
Little Rock police have no statement on the matter, as the incident involved “one group interrupting another group," said spokesman officer Richard Hilgeman.
Central Arkansas Pride, the organization that puts on the annual celebration, was not aware Black Lives Matter planned to hold a demonstration, and staff members decided to escort the protesters off the stage “due to festival license and time constraints,” Executive Director Zack Baker said in a statement.
“We, as a board, understand that we did not handle the incident to the best of our abilities, and for that, we apologize,” Baker said.
Black Lives Matter of Little Rock said the group chose to take a stand during the festival because the entire idea of LGBT pride "started as a means to give a voice to those who have been systematically silenced," it said in a statement.
Group members will continue to boycott Club Sway until the bar prohibits racial epithets or caricatures during performances, issues a formal apology acknowledging "the racist intent of the performance" and requires employees and management to take anti-racism training, the statement said.
Wiest, the co-owner, said because the activists have made "defamatory statements" about the club, any further contact with the group will be handled through its legal team. The bar will continue to be a "safe space in a conservative state" for a diverse community, he added.
In its statement issued in July, Sway said it "in no way supports racist ideology or activity."
"The controversial performance involved a white drag queen who performed at Sway in blue microbraids," the statement said. "In response to racist claims, she used watermelons, which have a history of racist symbolism, to convey the idea of smashing stereotypes. The performance art was not only a rebuttal to claims of racism, but also was meant to hold symbolism as a male who performs as a female shattering that paradigm as well. In retrospect, we understand that this performance can itself be construed as racist. Offense was not the intent."