I want you to ask yourself a
serious question- if you were offended by Beyoncé’s performance at the Super
bowl this year… why?
Was it her unapologetic blackness?
If so, and you’re a longtime Beyoncé fan- then you haven’t been listening for
quite some time. She has never hidden her roots.
You were comfortable when she was
“whitewashed” enough for you, singing lyrics and dancing in ways you could
emulate, in ways that transcended color or gender. Now her gloves are off, and
she’s using the platform she’s built over long years of hard work and
determination to spread a message near and dear to her heart- something artists
have been doing from the beginning. But
you’re uncomfortable with her doing it.
Is it because as one blogger put
it, “this isn’t your party”? You’re right- white people, this isn’t your party.
You can sympathize, you can even possibly relate. But you are not black. The
American economy was built on the backs of slaves. Martin Luther King Jr. and
Malcolm X were men from our ranks. The fact that most of you don’t know whom
Emmett Till, or who the four little girls were, shows this isn’t your party. But
you don’t want to talk about that. Is it because it makes you uncomfortable?
The truth? Too bad. Get the hell out of your comfort zone.
You’re ok with emulating a culture
we built- from jazz to rap, from clothing, all around style, to vernacular, and
yet when a black woman stands up and says to the world, “I’m black, and I’m
proud” you try to tear her down. Notice I say try- because a lesson those who
want to oppress never learn is- that we will not be silenced. We will not be
overlooked. We will not be pushed back into the shadows, walk on the opposite
side of the street, allow grown men to be called “boy” so that white dominance
can be seen and heard from afar. Jim Crow is dead. We killed it. And if it ever
had the audacity to rise again, rest assured we would overcome as we did
before.
So you’re upset she used a sports
platform for her message? You mean the same way Tim Tebo used it as a platform
to practice his religion freely? You mean the way white artists like Kid Rock
and Ted Nugent use the confederate battle flag in their shows? Beyoncé took a
moment when the most people were watching, (more people watch the Super bowl
that show up to vote for the president of the united states) to spread a
message of solidarity, of pride. Beyoncé is smart- she wanted to be seen and
heard, and what better place?
You who are offended by this, and
by songs like the one written by Ben Harper called, “Call it what it is” need
to call this for what it really is. We can hear it- the death throes of
ignorant white dominance.
Get past your discomfort, and look at the
facts- Supporting Black Lives Matter does NOT mean we think all cops are the
enemy. Black History month is not meant to segregate- it is meant to educate.
Let's be serious- every ethnic group in the United States knows there is nothing
more white washed than an American history book. Paying homage to the Black
Panther party isn’t even beginning to be on the same level as supporting the
KKK- so let that ignorant shit go right now. Championing MLK Jr. and Malcolm X
is not something that should be done on one holiday- and also, do your
homework. Malcolm X was not a militant bully. He was a direct product of his
times. He was not just the violent counterpart to MLK.
I am a mixed woman who is treated
as if I wasn’t mixed at all. I support Black Lives Matter. I also support good
cops. I do not support your continued ignorance, nor will I acquiesce to it. I
am a product of those who came before me- an educated young person, who
understands her history, and refuses to allow all they fought for to be lost in
the bullshit rewriting of history that makes others feel better. I don’t feel
better.
Young black men are dying at the rate of an
endangered species in the United States, but you want to act like we’re just
being sensitive, or that we’re just making it all up. We have the highest rate
of incarceration in the U.S., higher than the amount of slaves that existed at
the height of the old south. I am still treated differently than my white
counterparts- and my story is not rare. But you don’t want to talk about any of
this.
Stop being part of the problem, and
be part of the solution. Stop bitching about Beyoncé’s performance and ask
yourself why she chose to perform that song? Believe me, she didn’t just do it
to ruffle your overly sensitive feathers. It was an act of defiance, a battle
cry, a love song to an entire people.
Ask yourself again- why were you
offended? Then ask yourself- am I part of the problem, or part of the solution?
Most likely- you’re part of the problem.
