Funny that it’s called “Freedom” Hall, isn’t it?
Monday morning, Johnson City City Manager Pete Peterson, refused to sign the lease agreement to allow Ludacris to perform for ETSU’s Homecoming.
According to the Johnson City Press, after doing personal research and listening to community comments, Peterson decided that the concert would have security issues.
Curious, isn’t it, that within the last two years, Freedom Hall has been the venue for two other shows whose content could have been questionable.
In February 2004 Kid Rock performed a concert and later in the year Lil Flip, Juvenile and J-Kwon all performed.
The community has concerns about Ludacris’ lyrics, but Kid Rock has lyrics that can be perceived as anti-homosexual and derogatory to women.
In his song “American Bad Ass,” Kid Rock says, “Never gay, no way, I don’t play with ass … I’m gonna f— some hoe’s after I rock this place.”
J-Kwon proclaims, “I don’t give a damn if you don’t like me, I ain’t goin’ do tha right thing, I ain’t Spike Lee. Cyanide in ya ice tea (Drink this), choke ’em while I sex ’em like Ike T.”
Both of these concerts were allowed to happen without any concern from the public.
There were no security issues.
Nor, in any of my own personal research, is there any record of violence resulting from a Ludacris concert.
As for community comments, why do they matter? The concert was not open to the public, only ETSU students who chose to go.
Any guest of a student must be 18 and show valid proof of age before being allowed to enter the show.
Yes, Freedom Hall is located on the Science Hill High School and Liberty Bell Middle School campuses, but the children would not be present while Ludacris performed.
So what viable concerns does the community have?
Johnson City is a college town. The economy booms whenever school is in session. And everywhere you look, you see the signs that broadcast “ETSU Pride.” Where’s the city’s pride now?
It doesn’t matter whether or not you like Ludacris or his music. What matters is the city now has control over everything ETSU ever wants to do.
“If this is cancelled, we’ve pretty much put our authority out to the community,” SGA President JR Husmillo said. “They can control us anytime they want. What about the future? Do we have to look for their approval every time? Are we ever going to have ra0p/hip hop events or is this going to come up every time?”
Think about it. There is no limit to the amount of censoring the city will impose upon us.
No rap, no heavy metal, no comedians – without the city’s approval. What does that leave us?
Ludacris has become irrelevant. Our rights as students have not.

Author