Dynamic, beautiful, talented, successful, The Queen…all of these have been used to describe Beyoncé, but racist? That is truly a first.
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really see Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime performance live. I watched it, but I was in a trance-like state that’s common when one watches Beyoncé perform; it’s normal. However, through the haze, I didn’t notice anything particularly alarming about it; I mean, it certainly didn’t have the shock value of Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s performance back in 2004. So when I saw the multitude of posts on Facebook and Twitter calling her performance “racist” and “divisive” I was incredibly confused.
Like I said earlier, I didn’t really “see” the halftime show so I decided to go back and watch it again and I have to tell you, I just don’t see what people are talking about. Was it simply the backup dancers dressed in Black Panther-esque attire? Was it simply the lyrics of the song she performed, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros/I like my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils”?
Then I watched Tomi Lahren’s, the conservative mouthpiece, video.
People genuinely thought the fact her backup dancers were wearing Black Panther costumes made the entire performance racist and served to advance the notion that “black lives matter more than other lives”. Some even thought it was prudent to compare the Black Panthers to the Ku Klux Klan.
To begin, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in 1966. They “practiced militant self-defense of minority neighborhoods against the US government and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs.” They were founded to protect minority communities from police brutality. They were founded because the minority communities respected the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his non-violence philosophy, but they realized, as Stokely Carmichael once so elegantly stated, “non-violence only works if your opponent has a conscience.” They were founded to address the rampant inequality in America; the unequal incarceration rates, unequal education, and unequal healthcare. This is why they offered weapons training courses, giving minorities the chance to safely exercise their 2nd amendment rights, free medical clinics, free tutoring services, and free breakfast. (Did you know the Black Panthers’ free breakfast program is what inspired the school meal programs that are offered at public schools to low income students around the US today?) So, to call the Black Panthers racist is evidence of people reaching conclusions through misinformation. What is even more egregious is to compare the Black Panthers to a Christian terrorist group like the KKK. The Black Panthers never raped, or advocated the rape of, white women. The Black Panthers never dragged white men through the streets behind pickup trucks. The Black Panthers did not lynch, burn, castrate, or tar and feather white men. The Black Panthers weren’t proactive, they were reactive to inequality and racism in America. So, to compare The Black Panthers to a group that advocates white supremacy, white nationalism, antisemitism, homophobia, and in some cases neo-fascism, is not only daft but also evidence of widespread ignorance in America.
*Deep Breath* Now that we got that little history lesson out of the way, Beyoncé’s use of Black Panther costumes in her halftime performance was not only void of any racism it was also appropriate. If you watch the music video created for the song and actually listen to the lyrics you will realize it is a song that is about celebrating black heritage, embracing black culture and stereotypes that have so often been used as a method of ridicule, and speaking out against police violence and brutality; all things the Black Panthers stood for.
It’s like people forgot Beyoncé was black for a moment.
What is wrong with embracing one’s culture? In fact, it begs the question, if a song of this ilk is to be deemed “racist” by the public, what should we label country music songs that embrace the redneck stereotype and talk romantically about driving pickup trucks down dirt roads in the heart of Dixieland?
Why is this the moment the majority of America has dubbed racially divisive and completely unacceptable? Why don’t these same people speak up when unarmed minorities are gunned down in the streets for no apparent reason? Why didn’t Tomi Lahren post a video when six school girls at a Phoenix area school posed for a photo while wearing t-shirts that spelled out NI**ER?
America can truly be confusing.
In the end, I think the Black Panthers, and Beyoncé’s song/performance make people uncomfortable, because they are “in your face”. I also think it explains why, in her video, Tomi Lahren spoke so fondly of Dr. King, but slandered the Panthers. I love Dr. King, and what he stood for, but he didn’t rock the boat. He wasn’t militant or overtly radical. He wasn’t a Malcom X or a W.E.B Dubois. You can embrace his ideologies and still feel safe at night. So, I think it speaks volumes when the vast majority embrace Dr. King, but lose their collective minds when an international pop star’s backup dancers don costumes reminiscent of Black Panther garb.
I waited 7 days to calm down and fully digest all that I’ve seen and read over the past week and it all truly inspired to write this response. I will indubitably be labeled as one of those people that won’t let the racial wounds of America heal because I’m constantly pulling the scab off, but I truly don’t care. Nor do I care about my Jackson 5 nostrils or the fact that I carry hot sauce in my bag. I’m going to embrace it.
