A court order courtesy of one of the signature celebrations of Black culture has forced a Black-owned business from holding its own event.
The Essence Festival successfully sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a Black-owned bookstore to keep the small business’ planned literary block party from happening in New Orleans. The TRO went into effect on Friday just hours before Essence Fest was set to kick off, NOLA.com reported.
Baldwin & Co. was scheduled to hold its event to honor Black authors before the Black-owned business was issued the TRO via a letter. Essence Fest also sent a cease and desist letter to author Tamika Newhouse, who organized the block party.
The TRO and cease and desist suggest that the event didn’t go through the proper licensing procedure to be included as a vendor during the annual Essence Fest celebration. Essence Fest maintains that it is not associated with the block party but that organizers still used Essence Fest branding to promote its event.
“It is deeply ironic that Essence, which claims to celebrate and uplift the Black community, would choose to target a business like Baldwin & Co., which aligns with the values of community service and empowerment,” Baldwin & Co. owner DJ Johnson said in a statement. “Such actions are not only unjust but also tarnish the reputation of Essence and raise questions about its commitment to supporting the Black community as a whole.”
One author who said he was slated to appear at the literary block party similarly expressed frustration with the court orders.
“I did not have the Essence Festival in New Orleans using a restraining order to shut down a community event at Baldwin and Company Books on my bingo card for this weekend,” Maurice Carlos Ruffin tweeted on Friday afternoon. “This is the worst for my city.”
The New Orleans City Council, which approved an ordinance for the block party to happen, condemned the court order blocking the…
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