More details needed on the disturbing story of cotton cultivation during the war and in the treaty

Shortly before the 4th of July weekend, a disturbing story appeared in The Hollywood Reporter finds the Black Country Soul duo The War & Treaty, who accuse the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival in Austin last weekend (June 29th and 30th) of racism. When the duo arrived in their dressing room at the Circuit of the Americas race track, someone had placed a cotton plant on a side table. The duo considered this to be a racist act.

Michael Trotter Jr. posted a short video on his Instagram story highlighting the cotton plant.

“I felt anger. I felt disrespect. I felt sadness.” Michael Trotter tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I am not only sad because this plant represents people who look like me, but I am also sad for myself because I am a son of this country. I served this country honorably in the 16th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division of the United States Army. I was wounded for that service. I am very open about my wounds and scars and I felt betrayed.”

Tanya Trotter further said that as the daughter of a sharecropper, the incident had hit her hard.

“My grandfather bought the plantation in New Bern, North Carolina, where he grew cotton. My family still lives there. When you look at these things, you think, ‘Wow, even though my grandfather bought the plantation, there’s still a lot of suffering behind people who didn’t have a chance to turn it into economic development for their families.’ I didn’t want to sit there and educate because it’s not my job to educate anyone about what cotton is and what it stands for in this country. That just shouldn’t be happening. It’s not just about racism, it’s more comprehensive now. It’s a safety issue now because we need to feel safe coming to these festivals.”

The Hollywood Reporter says a representative for the Coca-Cola Sips and Sounds Festival did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Saving Country Music has also reached out to the festival’s press secretary and has not received a response as of the time of this post. Unfortunately, due to the July 4th holiday, it may take some time before more details are available.

The War & Treaty’s allegation should be taken seriously. Even if the placement of the cotton plant was entirely unintentional, that does not diminish the duo’s experience, which has clearly left them unsettled and disturbed in a way that the country music community should not tolerate. At the same time, the seriousness of the allegation also means that the situation needs to be seriously investigated and looked at in depth to determine why the cotton plant was placed in the dressing room, whether it was done intentionally or maliciously, and how to prevent such situations from happening again in the future.

Who are war and treaty?

The War & Treaty have been active in the country and Americana music scene since 2014, have performed countless times at the Grand Ole Opry and have participated in major award shows such as the ACM Awards, the CMA Awards and the Americana Music Awards. They sang on UMG Nashville, a major Nashville Music Row record label, in 2022 and are regularly booked for major country music festivals. For black country music artists, The War & Treaty have been comparatively successful.

The story of war and treaty and country music

The War & Treaty are not known for making waves just for their own promotion, nor for accusations of racism against individuals or the country music industry. If anything, they were a duo committed to “getting involved,” fighting against the natural headwinds in country music to take advantage of opportunities not afforded to the vast majority of country musicians. Regardless of the cotton plant’s origin story and the deeper implications, this concern does not come from a duo that wants to make everything racial or overplay the adversity they faced in the industry.

What is the Coca-Cola Sips and Sounds Festival?

The Coca-Cola Sips and Sounds event was a very poorly curated corporate event by a major American brand trying to curry favor with consumers as soft drink consumption continues to decline.

“We want to use this investment and this event to advance our business goals,” says Ryan Keen, Senior Marketing Manager at Coca-Cola. “We’re really hoping to connect with local consumers in this Texas market to localize our national and global Coke music campaigns. We want to figure out how we can make that more relevant to fans and consumers.”

To use the parlance of the time, Coca-Cola Sips and Sounds was a “woke” event. Headliners Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini were two of the most vocal country music artists on social/political issues in recent years. Black artists The War & Treaty and Devon Gillfilian, as well as Latino artist Sammy Arriaga, speak to the festival’s deliberate attempt to present an ethnically diverse lineup.

The idea that the organizers of the Coca-Cola Sips and Sounds Festival, who actively want to promote their brand and a DEI-based corporate perspective on country music, intentionally placed a cotton plant in The War & Treaty’s dressing room to mock them in a racist act is extremely unlikely.

If the cotton plant was placed in the locker room in an intentionally racist action by an individual or group of people, the person responsible should be publicly named and reprimanded, and the event organizers should apologize and take steps to ensure that similar scenarios never happen again. If it was a completely unintentional mistake, a detailed explanation of how the cotton plant was placed still needs to be provided.

Were cotton plants placed in all or individual dressing rooms, or just in the one for “The War & Treaty”?

What is the Circuit of the Americas?

The Circuit of the Americas, or COTA, is an international Formula One racetrack that is used to hosting international races and dealing with the peculiarities of many different customs, religions, and races. This is not a NASCAR racetrack run by good ol’ boys in the Deep South. It’s an international racetrack in a generally liberal community in Austin, Texas.

Is this the fault of “country music”?

The Hollywood Reporter Article begins, “Although black artists have made great strides in the recent country music scene, racism still exists in the genre. For Americana country couple The War and Treaty, that happened last week at the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival in Austin, Texas.”

The War & Treaty are signed to a major label in Nashville. They regularly perform at the Grand Ole Opry. They performed at the 2021 ACM Awards and the 2022 CMA Awards and had a major hit with Zach Bryan in 2023 with “Hey Driver.” The War & Treaty have been fully embraced by the country music industry.

Country music is treated too often as a monolith. If someone places the cotton plant in the dressing room as a deliberate act of racism, it is first the fault of the individual, secondly that of his superiors, and thirdly that of the organizer. “Country music” has embraced The War & Treaty.

The fear of overreaction

Much like the Bubba Wallace noose incident at Talladega Superspeedway in 2019, which was ultimately investigated and debunked as a hate crime by the FBI, the cotton rope in The War & Treaty’s dressing room could have boiled down to a simple misunderstanding. That doesn’t change their sense of fear or the duo’s interpretation of the incident. But before entire organizations or music genres are accused, a detailed investigation should be conducted to determine who placed the noose in the dressing room and why. Otherwise, similar racist incidents risk being dismissed as “the boy who cried wolf” scenarios.