As Natalie Hopkinson, the author of the new book “Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City”, continues her scheduled book signing tour, more signs of a city continually dividing rears its ugly head. See below as Natalie recounts her book signing experience at the Politics and Prose book store:
“A few minutes before my reading, store employee Marshall popped in my CD. Not 30 seconds into my go-go playlist, a white woman went to the cashier to complain. The song in question wasn’t even a go-go song. It was Parliament’s 1970s funk classic ‘Chocolate City’—a song that took on a moniker that was being used by Washingtonians celebrating the city’s first elected mayor, a black man named Walter Washington: ‘What’s happening, C.C. They still call in the White House, but that’s a temporary condition….’ The blonde woman marched straight to the cashier, who referred her to the owner of Politics & Prose. She said the music was ‘racist’ and demanded they stop playing it. I am so very sad to report that the store actually complied.”
READ NATALIE’S ENTIRE RECOUNT HERE
Listen to the song “Chocolate City” below:
