At Afro Plus Fest, Wes Moore says Black culture must be celebrated amid efforts to ‘minimize’ Black people

The Maryland governor tells theGrio that Afro Plus Fest showcases the cultural and economic power of the Black diaspora.

Thousands of music lovers descended on Maryland’s Northwest Stadium on Labor Day weekend for the second annual Afro Plus Fest, where some of the biggest artists in hip-hop and Afrobeats, from Latto and Davido to Ayra Starr and Tems, performed some of their greatest hits.

The event also brought out Governor Wes Moore, with whom theGrio briefly chatted about the importance of hosting the Afro Plus Fest in Maryland and its cultural significance at a time when there are attempts to “minimize” Black people globally.

“Well, I think especially right now, it’s important for people to recognize the beauty that is us. The culture that is about how the world moves to beats we create,” Moore told theGrio. “The world moves markets that we sustained. That the world moves to products that we built. And so I think right now, particularly the time when we have people who are trying to tell us about our importance and trying to minimize it, I think it’s more important for us to stand up and say, ‘No, we are beautiful.”

Moore, who, joined by Maryland First Lady Dawn Moore and Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy, introduced Tems before her performance, said the Afro Plus Fest is not just a “celebration of global Black culture,” but an “economic boom” for Maryland.

“People come here and they come to the shows, but also, you know, they stay in hotels and they’re eating at restaurants and they learn more about Maryland and people want to come and spend time here, and actually move here,” said the governor, who is running for a second term in November.

He added, “It’s the great recruitment tool for the next generation of Marylanders as well.“

County Executive Braveboy agreed, telling theGrio, “This means a lot to us. It means thousands of visitors to our county from all over the country, and really all over world…our local businesses, our local hotels are doing amazing because of all of the people coming to visit us and folks coming from around the region and, of course, from our communities as well.”

But at Afro Plus Fest, it was the music that truly took center stage. Governor Moore said the festival’s centering of Black music represents “a soundtrack for all of our lives.”

“I mean you could look at so many different moments in my life and they were done to a beat of Afrobeats, they were done to a beat of hip-hop, they’re done to the beat of gospel, they are done to the beat of reggae, and I think for so many of us it really is a beautiful celebration of who we are and in many ways in that music we first see ourselves,” Moore told theGrio.

Braveboy told theGrio the music of the Black diaspora served as a “beautiful” way to bring cultures together. The Prince George’s County Executive said she was especially “proud” of the young people who put the festival together, like 29-year-old founder Michael Awosanya.

“They came to me early on and said, ‘Hey, can you partner with us? Can you be supportive of this type of event? And I said, absolutely, let’s work together. And we got it done,” said Braveboy.

Governor Moore said it was fitting to host the Afro Plus Fest in Maryland because the state is “an embodiment of global Black culture.”

“When you think about the things that we lean on and that we lift up, a celebration of not just diversity, but it’s a celebration of excellence, and I think that’s what Afro Plus continues to bring, and that’s why there’s only one place that’s appropriate for it to be, and that is Maryland,” said Moore.