Last night The Vail Valley Foundation tossed me out of the Norah Jones concert at Ford Amphitheater in Vail for wearing these pro Palestinian bracelets.
Before I explain what happened, two friends who I went to the show with saw everything. Here's what went down.
My two friends and I sat down to enjoy the show. A few minutes after, a woman in front of us somehow noticed my bracelets. Not because I was waiving my arm around going "Free Palestine", or making it a point to show everyone nearby my bracelets. No. We're minding our own business. We didn't say a word to this woman or any of our neighbors.
Once the woman noticed my bracelets she got triggered. She started flashing the Star of David at us on her phone. At first I didn't notice it. Once I did, I didn't say anything to her. I just thought to myself, "Whatever lady. I'm not your enemy". I'm not. I have Jewish friends. Bob Dylan is Jewish. So are other musicians I listen to and support. In fact everything I've learned about Gaza has come from talking with, listening to, or reading books by Jewish people.
Then the woman got more heated. She started giving us the middle finger. Now she crossed the line. I said something. But it wasn't racist or anti-semitic. I think I said something like this to my friends "People like her wanna control us. They want us to obey". Then she got up to get drinks, called me "an idiot".
She returns 10 minutes or so later. We didn't say a word to her. We're there to enjoy the show. We were hoping she'd cooled down, had let it go. Nope.
Before I go on, I'd have been happy to have a pleasant conversation with this woman. All she had to say was, "Hey man. Can we talk about your bracelets"? I've had plenty of conversations that started in similar fashion. I'm all about conversation. Even though in this case the conversation starts off by questioning my right to choose the clothes I wear. You know, free conscience. Whatever. Meet people where they are.
Now the woman decides she's going to flip me the bird for, I guess, the rest of the show. She's waving the middle finger at me behind her head.
Now she's pissed me off. So I gave it back to her. Told her to "fuck off and go to hell". Then I realized I was swimming in the gutter with her. I got a hold of myself. I pleaded with her date or husband – who seemed embarrassed by her behavior – to get her to stop. No luck. Then I said "Look lady. I'm not going to sit her and let you do this. I'm gonna go get the usher if you don't knock it off". She ignored me, kept on. So I went to go find an usher.
Now is when this example of the sad state we're in gets even weirder.
I find an usher. My two friends in tow. We explained what was going on, that this woman was hassling us all because of the bracelets I was wearing. That she was probably disrupting others too. Because the people behind and next to us were probably wondering, "What's up with her? Why is she flipping them off and why won't she stop"? The woman is disrupting our show and probably others' too. She's all about herself. The usher looks at us like we're from Mars.
Remember. This woman is sitting in front of us. Her back is to us. But somehow, she's triggered by my bracelets. I mean, WTF? How is she not looking for trouble? Then, all she had to do to not be triggered was not turn around to stare ant my wrist. Enjoy the show. But no.
The usher looked at my bracelets. Paused, looked at me, said something about Palestinians then said, "Well, the bracelets are controversial". Say what?
I couldn't believe my ears. The usher ignored that I was being hassled by this woman. Paid no attention to our explanation of the woman hassling us, wouldn't stop – even after we asked her to. Didn't seem to agree that we had the right to enjoy the show we paid for. No. None of that mattered to the now 2 ushers hearing us. They judged me to be in the wrong.
The ushers did offer to move us. We told them no. Because we weren't in the wrong. Why should we have to move? We thought the users should move the woman.
We kept asking the ushers to tell the woman to stop hassling us. They wouldn't do it. As far as I know they never did talk to her.
At this point I'm starting to get a little hot that they wouldn't talk to her or ask her to move. But I didn't ever swear to the ushers or treat them with disrespect. But yeah, I got pissed. Because this is America. If we're to the point where we can't wear clothing we choose, even if it is offensive to someone, what are we? It was mind-blowing that I was both the victim and the perpetrator – even though I'm the one who brought the problem to the ushers. And this is exactly what I said to the ushers, in a not-so-friendly tone. My tone had more to do with being shocked this was happening to me. There's a thing called justifiable anger.
The ushers call the cops over. I'm thinking, "Holy fuck. I'm going to jail for free conscience"? The two cops looked at me like I'm an angry terrorist. Told me I had to leave. The cops and ushers start pushing me to the exit. I keep asking them how on earth this could happen in America? "One cop said, "Keep talking and you're going to jail". Now the cop is threatening me with jail for having a free conscience. OMG. My friends and I walked out, left the scene.
I'm still in shock this happened, but here we are. It's sad and infuriating. But here's the thing. What if the triggering event was a Trump hat? I wonder how they'd have treated the situation?
Of course, The Vail Valley Foundation enforces their policies. It's their venue, they're in charge.
I checked each of these websites. I can't find anything about a dress code or what defines "controversial" anything.
https://grfavail.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/21GRFA-Terms-and-Conditions.pdf
So if it's a violation of Vail Valley Foundation policies to wear controversial, or pro Palestinian clothing, I certainly can't find it. But let's say it is. How on earth would they define what's controversial? Trump is controversial. So they ban Trump or MAGA branded clothing? Israel is controversial. Someone couldn't wear a Star of David of yarmulka to a Vail Valley Foundation event? Bronco fans aren't exactly fond of Raiders fans. So now someone can't rep their favorite sports team? Where does this end? How does it end?
Last night I got a taste of what Jews, Palestinians, gays, and people of color deal with daily. It sucks that somewhere on social media this woman has told the world that I'm, I dunno, a Jew hating terrorist. She's ripping me. When she's the one with the anger and ostensibly, hate. I'll bet she feels power, because I got tossed. Whatever, lady.
Resist. Keep, resisting.
tty next time,
