This Young Oakland Artist Is Headed to the Kennedy Center, Despite Trump’s Takeover

In many ways, B. DeVeaux’s mere existence is a challenge to the status quo. As a femme non-binary first-generation U.S. citizen of Afro Caribbean descent, the California born-and-raised artist sings about self-love, social justice and the power of community.

But DeVeaux, an Oakland singer, songwriter and musician, isn’t running from that challenge. Instead, they’re on a collision course — later this month, they perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

In February, the management of the 54-year-old historic institution was taken over by President Trump, who’s consistently promoted anti-queer, anti-immigrant and anti-Black legislation and rhetoric, including his vision for the Kennedy Center.

So for someone like B. DeVeaux, why perform there at all? While many other artists have publicly canceled their Kennedy Center shows in protest, the Oakland School for the Arts graduate speaks of a higher calling.

“If I was ever going to be loud and proud and active, and take any kind of stand for my people,” they said during a recent phone call, “I feel like the time is now.”

For the July 18 performance, B. DeVeaux will be part of the group Oakland Rising, along with musicians August Lee Stevens and NAIMA. Ahead of the show, the three got some poignant advice from another East Bay local who recently chose to perform at the Kennedy Center despite Trump’s takeover.

“We spoke with W. Kamau Bell about it,” B. DeVeaux said. “His advice to us was about being intentional, because this may be something that you’re going to talk about for the rest of your life.”

Bell also told the emerging musicians that while people will always have their opinions, what’s important is they make up their minds about what they’re doing it for. “Stand in your truth,” he told them, “you know who you are.”

Even as a young artist on the verge of releasing their fist album, B. DeVeaux is clear about the magnitude of this moment — and it all comes at a time when B. DeVeaux is on the move.

Last week, B. DeVeaux released their first single, “Because You,” from their forthcoming debut album, “Chrysalis.”

B. DeVeaux’s empowering lyrics and impressive vocals pair with acoustic guitar and drums to make a heartwarming R&B song. The emotional track, and the album as a whole, is a dedication to B. DeVeaux’s late sister, Taurian Wolfe-DeVeaux.

This week they finish a stint as an understudy in the musical Co-Founders. Last week they performed alongside Vicki Randle at The Freight in Berkeley. And later this month they’ll be on stage at Mountain Winery for a performance with Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens.

It’s quite a journey for the young artist who, at age 14, shared their queer identity with their family; their father responded by calling them a derogatory term.

“When I decided to let people know who I was,” said B. DeVeaux, “it was met with anger, it was met with insults.” If they can deal with oppression coming from family for merely being who they are, they reasoned, what can society at large possibly throw at them?

On Because of You, B. DeVeaux’s produces, arranges and plays every instrument, aside from piano by Jonathan Franaszek and drums by Bruce Cook. Recorded through San Francisco’s Women’s Audio Mission’s Local Sirens residency, the album captures B. DeVeaux’s poetic lyrics and uninhibited imagination.

On the song “Pluto,” the artist visualizes a world where purple skies and red rain meet green birds, yellow dogs and sugarcane. It’s “where all the things you dream come to life, where nothing is out of reach or out of sight,” they sing.

The vocalist takes a more intrapersonal approach on the track “Sometimes You Need to Burn in Hell,” singing about accountability, growth, self-love and re-emerging from a low place.

“I know somebody’s going to read that title and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, what?’” B. DeVeaux said. “But it’s also just real. You really gotta go through some stuff to get through it, and there’s no other way. You have to let stuff go, you have to cry, you have be angry, crash out, you know?”

The album ends with the track “Safe Place,” a song inspired by a conversation with their mom. Reunited after eight years apart, B. DeVeaux’s mother suggested that they write a self-addressed letter. B. DeVeaux decided to write it in song form. While housesitting for a former teacher, they held a mahogany acoustic guitar, playing with some chords from the Beatles song “Blackbird.” After a few repetitions, the words came to them.

“I feel like a theme in my life,” said B. DeVeaux, reflecting on the content in the song, “has been the feeling of being unsupported or unloved; feeling like I’m not enough.”

That feeling was most prominent as a child, they said, noting that in adulthood — especially after their sister’s passing two years ago — the community’s outpouring of love has shifted their perception of support. Now, “I know that I’m loved,” they said. “I know I’m supported.”

The song is what the younger version of what B. DeVeaux needed, as well as a warm hug for listeners, according to B. DeVeaux. Each time they perform it, they’re “carving out a little space for that younger person inside” of whoever’s listening.

“You can be everything that you are for yourself,” they said. “You don’t have to go outside of you for anything. You are more than enough. You are here for a reason.”

B. DeVeaux performs July 18 as part of the group Oakland Rising at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The concert will be made available to watch via livestream. Details here.