In lieu of the rape of the young woman that occurred on the dance floor during a live DJ set at the Opera Nightclub in Atlanta last weekend, Rave culture, the time is now to check ourselves.
We all need to step back for a minute and reconfigure a few things. What is going on out there? Where is the love at? Everybody is so caught up in their own lives, that somehow, we are letting women get raped on dancefloors during DJ sets.
Marinate on that for a bit. What a disgusting and atrocious thing. There was a time that love was the dominating force behind our scene. Peace, love, unity, respect, is that not what PLUR means? Is that not the intentions of this whole thing of ours? If we let the initial premise go then what separates from us from anybody else?
With a heavy heart we move forward with this article, as we hang our head in shame that the scene has come to this. This is not supposed to be, and if this is the direction that we are heading, then it is time to disband.
How could this ever come to be? Wow. People are so caught up in their own lives that they do not even stop to help a woman on a dancefloor that is getting raped? Did you see the video? Did you witness the atrocity? Our hearts are broken over this, and yours should be as well.
When this thing of ours started once upon a time, it was truly a beautiful thing. People looked out and cared for one another. The whole thing evolved from love, but lately, it has been spiraling towards something else. There is a fine line between dark and light, a very thin space separates the two things. What we are doing is for the greater good of humanity. We are the peacekeepers, we are the Jedi Knights. Our culture stems from love and light, darkness does not have a home here.
The thing about light is that even the darkest places on the planet are no match for the light, it always wins. A tiny pinhole of light will bust through and overtake it every time. It is plain and simple, light obliterates the darkness. Be the light.
It does not matter if one is in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Macedonia, Hong Kong, London, France, Italy, Tokyo, Amsterdam, or Timbuktu, we are one. One rhythm, one heartbeat, one step; complete unison. The location of the assault on the dance floor should be irrelevant, we stand together as one or we fall apart. As the culture advances, of course, people are going to infiltrate the infrastructure. People with ill-gotten intentions are always going to be there, but we cannot stand for it whatsoever.
We have not come this far by sitting back and watching it all happen, we are where we are because of action. At one point in time, we took a stance to separate from ordinary life and build something better. The sub-culture started very small, and it was pure, powerful, and potent. We connected and we built the scene brick by brick with love, light, and good intentions. That is what this is all about; it is the only way.
Tears of sorrow have been shed over the disheartening video and sexual attack, mostly for the unnamed, but also for us. Tears pour due to the state of our union. Seriously, this is a huge issue. The only way to move past this is with a unified promise of diligence and a gut check.
We should all be ashamed of ourselves. How in the world could we ever let this happen? The only way that we can possibly move forward is by slaloming swearing that from this point forward that we will do better. That we will look back to the beginning and remember what it was that started all of this in the first place, which is only love.
We must all make the decision to stop the bullshit. Stop letting outside extremities determine the outcome of our scene. If something is wrong, do not look the other way. Stand up and do something about it. We are connected, that is your bredrin. Whatever is happening to them, is happening to you. How hard is it to do the right thing? Is it really that difficult to step up in the face of injustice to defend your family? It is not.
This writer is a representative of the Atlanta rave scene. He watched the scene sprout and blossom from the abyss of nothing, when it was nothing but either drum and bass or house music. When the only way to find an event was to go pick up an event flyer at one of ten different places in the city.
Things have changed, and it is now in full bloom, but it has been watered down severely. The Atlanta rave scene was once a fabulous entity. It was all about love, dancing, and plur, before it was even called that. It was not the popular thing to do back then, but it was beautiful, wholesome, and something to be proud of. Now, not so much.
Nowadays most of the Atlanta events get bypassed simply because everyone has an angle, and only a select few are there for the right reasons. When we go out, we go to dance and connect with humans, but also to spread love, laugh, have a good time, and shine a light. Call me old school if you like, but that is what it is all supposed to be about. That is what we are at our core. It is hard to find that in Atlanta, and speculation leads me to believe that it is happening all over the planet; we must rise up against it, or just stop completely.
At one festival in Atlanta we heard a group of guys chanting ‘Pass us your unconscious chicks” before one of our favorite DJ’s was about to perform. It is impossible to put into words the feelings of disgust that overtook us by just hearing that. Nobody even stopped them, it went on for a good fifteen minutes before the music started. People were amused by it. We thought we were going to throw up from the thought of it, and could not believe that the scene had become so tarnished.
Let’s recall Woodstock in 1999. There were numerous reports of rape at the event, and after it was over, guess what? Music festivals died for nearly a decade, and rightfully so. Thank goodness that they put a stop to that. So, now with the rise of the EDM festival scene, and its current powerhouse standpoint, we are actually able to go to music festivals again.
Well, this will not be a thing anymore if we stand back and let horrible things happen to people right in front of us; oh while they live stream it on Facebook Live while screaming and begging for help while everybody just kind of watches. Outside of doing the right thing, and standing up for humanity, how long will it take before they pull the plug on the whole thing? Not long at all.
We are on the brink of destruction, and then the whole planet is doomed. We are the only hope. The world is a better place because of what we are doing to help expand consciousness, and because the light that we shine spills over into the real world. Without us, the planet is going to revert back to the stone age in regards to consciousness. Besides all of that, a woman was raped in a crowd while people were dancing. Do not even try to tell me that nobody saw it, that is not the truth.
So, here we are at the tipping point. One way we stop raving and experiencing the magic of it all, the other way we step up and protect those around us. We stop thinking about any aspect of self-gratitude. We tap into the oneness of it all and revert back to the original form, where PLUR once against becomes the forefront of our movement. We transform back to our original format, and go to events with good intentions and danc, or we stop. It is one or the other, there is no in between.
Not that it takes any trauma or torment from the unnamed victim, but at least Atlanta police have made an arrest regarding the incident. On Tuesday, 34 year old, Dominique Williams turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail and was charged with aggravated sodomy.
That does not let anybody off of the hook that saw it and did nothing, but it is a step in the right direction. May justice be served, and let’s all pray for the victim, and for our scene. We must move forward with good intentions, love, light, peace, unity, and respect, or disband. Which side will you pick?
