May 31, 2001

We dwell on the sad story of the INS and the Mahotella Queens for just one more week and then move on. Below is the letter that Banning Eyre wrote to the INS protesting their callous treatment of one of Afropop Worldwide's very favorite groups. We encourage others to write similar letters. Use the address below, and be sure to cite the Agent and the Case number. We also encourage you to copy your Senators and congressional representatives. INS is a federal office. Washington needs to know about this as well!!

Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre

Christine Poulis
Assistant Director
INS--CA Service Center
PO Box 10590
Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-0590
FAX +1-949-389-3402

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to strongly protest the recent action by Agent 307 at the INS's Southern California office concerning the South African musical group Mahotella Queens. In case WAC-01-150-51022, the group's application for an I-129/"P-3" visa was denied on the flimsiest of grounds. After delaying and delaying, forcing the Queens to cancel appearances at major festivals, including the Houston International Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Agent 307 issued an official denial based on the ludicrous rationale that the Queens could only appear at festivals presenting exclusively South African music! Given that there has virtually never been such a festival in the United States, this was the same as simply saying that the INS doesn't care about the Mahotella Queens impeccable reputation and historic standing as a pioneering band in African music going back to the 1960s. The message was: we don't like you.

It took the Texas INS office, where the application was re-routed with the same documentation Agent 307 saw, exactly one hour to approve the application. By then, a great deal of money, time and opportunity had been lost, and huge audiences had been denied a rare opportunity to view one of the most magnificent stage acts in Africa.

I write you as someone who has worked with African music for 15 years. I have made 6 trips to Africa to research music and find the very best acts to write about and present on national radio in this country. I am a writer, not a concert presenter, but I know how hard everyone involved with bringing African groups to the U.S. works, and what risks they take. Nobody gets rich in the process of bringing Americans the very best that Africa has to offer. The expenses are simply too great. Given this country's history with Africa, most people involved in this enterprise consider it important cultural work. That's why we do it. Over the years, I have had other occasions to be unhappy about the obstacles INS sometimes puts in the paths of worthy artists, but I have never seen anything as outrageous as this, and I have never before written to complain.

The Mahotella Queens, as Agent 307 acknowledged, are a "culturally unique" group. What's more, they are fine and upstanding women. It is nothing short a marvel that they continue to perform with such excellence and vigor after 35 years on the stage. This was their first tour here in over 4 years, and I am frankly ashamed that a representative of my government took it upon him or herself to whimsically punish them. Given the weakness of Agent 307's stated grounds, I can only conclude that the agent had some other reason, perhaps personal, for denying this request. This is totally unacceptable, and I certainly hope you will investigate this case and take disciplinary action against this rogue agent. What Agent 307 did was disgraceful and reckless. The INS and the American people should not tolerate it!

Yours truly,

Banning Eyre
Senior Editor: www.afropop.org

And the background on all this….

May 18, 2001

Below is the saga of one of the most outrageous actions the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has committed against an African musical act in memory. Read it and weep! If you want to add your voice to the protest, send your complaints to:

Christine Poulis
Assistant Director
INS--CA Service Center
PO Box 10590
Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-0590
FAX +1-949-389-3402

Letter-writers should refer to the following...
Sponsoring Group: Mahotella Queens
Visa type: I-129/"P-#" Visa
Agent: 307
Case # WAC-01-150-51022

Also, now that the Queens are in the country, click on Tours on our homepage to see if they're playing near you!!

Now the story:

May 1, 2001

The Southern California office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service has just denied performance visas to the Mahotella Queens of South Africa. It's the most stunning and outrageous American obstruction of an African cultural act that I've heard of in fifteen years of covering this music. The Queens had to cancel dates at three of this country's most prestigious festivals--Houston, New Orleans, and Lafayette--and if desperate measures to route the application through another INS branch don't succeed at record speed, the entire tour, including the Queens' debut at Lincoln Center, will be cancelled.

The California office has yet to give reasons for their callous action, but it's difficult to imagine any plausible rationale. The Mahotella Queens are without question one of the most unique, influential, and universally loved stage acts ever to emerge from Africa in the 20th century. Their tour agent, David Garr, supplied the INS with volumes of documentation on this group's 36-year career. It is difficult to imagine a more clear-cut case. This news should be of great concern to anyone who loves African music. As Garr told me, "If they can do this to a group with this kind of record and documentation, they can do it to anyone."

Organizing an American tour for an African artist is very difficult these days. The INS has steadily raised application rates and other barriers making it expensive and time-consuming to arrange visas. This on top of rising travel expenses, more conservative programming trends on the part of American promoters, and declining support from record companies has discouraged many agents and has meant less and less African music on U.S. stages in recent years. This apparently whimsical action by the INS just adds insult to injury. It particularly stings that they would target a group as unassailable and courageous as the Mahotella Queens. The group has sustained much tragedy in recent years. The great groaner, Mahlathini, and lead guitarist Marks Mankwane both died from illnesses in the late '90s, and the Queens have worked hard to remake their act with younger musicians. Afropop saw the new group at Womex in Berlin last October, and it was exceptional. This U.S. tour was to be the stuff of Afropop history. It is now a terrible blot of shame on the INS.

This is just the most outlandish of a number of recent incidents. Respected musicians from Mali, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe have been denied U.S. visas this year. There is real reason to suspect that we're facing a sea change in terms of our government's sympathy toward African music. Given the unfortunate record of African governments concerning development of their musical resources, foreign tours have been one of the major rays of hope available to African musicians. If indeed the American government is planning to obstruct these tours now, the impact on musical careers in Africa will be dire.

We must not take this lying down. Please raise your voice. Send complaints to the address or fax number at the top of this message. You can also write a letter of protest to your senators and congress people. The INS is a federal institution, so it's appropriate to raise this with your Washington representatives. Cite the Mahotella Queens example in particular, because it is so out of line, roughly the equivalent of saying, "Diana Ross and the Supremes? What did they ever do?" Most senators and congress people have websites that make it easy for you to write to them. Feel free to borrow ideas or language from this essay. The INS and Washington, D.C. need to know that we are paying attention!

Banning Eyre

UPDATE! May 3, 2001
Afropop Worldwide has just learned that the Texas office of the INS approved the Mahotella Queens after one hour of reviewing their application. The tour will begin in Kansas City on May 9. This is a relief, but it does not take away from the outrage of the Southern California office's action. Huge audiences in Lafayette, New Orleans, and Houston were denied the chance to see this historic group. Much income was lost by people who can scarce afford it. And why? We still don't know, but the Texas office's swift action clearly underlines the whimsical nature of the California decision.

May 10 UPDATE
Well, the Queens begun their tour in Kansas City on May 9. Meanwhile the Southern California INS office made clear their "rationale"--if you could even call it that--for denying the original application. Here's what David Garr, the booking agent had to say about it.

"It seems that review officer 307's interpretation of the code was that rather than needing to prove that The Mahotella Queen's INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES at your events were to be "culturally unique to the beneficiary's home country", his claim is that his belief is that each of your ENTIRE EVENTS were required to be "culturally unique to the beneficiary's home country".

Put simply, he acknowledged that the group was "culturally significant", and that each of your festivals are offering cultural presentations in a multitude of musical genres - but he denied The Mahotella Queens visa specifically because your "events are not SOLELY featuring South African programming" and therefore ALL of the performances at your events are not culturally specific to the beneficiaries home country.

Breaking this down to it's most basic level his ruling pretty much equates to: The Mahotella Queens were denied the opportunity to perform at New Orleans JazzFest this weekend simply because artists like Paul Simon were also performing at the same event."