If you don’t live under a social rock, then you have probably heard about Beyoncé’s performance of her new single “Formation” at the Super Bowl half time show; you also probably saw a large mob of white people raising their pitchforks about it because the performance pays tribute to the Black Panther movement, which apparently means Beyoncé is racist against white people.
I don’t know about y’all, but this is pretty comical to me for a few reasons:
1. There is no such thing as racism against white people. But how is this possible, you ask? People are prejudiced against white people, like, all the time! The problem is that racism isn’t the same as saying “I hate white people”—it actually requires systemic oppression against your race. So here are the hard and fast facts for you:
- White people are the dominant group…
- …meaning we hold all the power…
- …meaning we can’t be oppressed
- …meaning “reverse discrimination” and racism against whites doesn’t exist.
I know this might be hard for some white people to hear because it’s fun to play the victim and get attention, but racism isn’t a game for people that are actually oppressed by it every day.
2. Even if racism against white people was a real thing, it would honestly be pretty valid for Beyoncé—or any other minority—to dislike white people and want to knock us down a few pegs. I would imagine it is hard to not be bitter against the group of people that receives all the privilege while inadvertently stepping on your group to do so. So the fact that Beyoncé never actually bashes white people at all is noteworthy—her video and performance focus on highlighting the structural racism in America as a system, rather than attacking the individuals who just participate in the system.
3. There are white people literally boycotting Red Lobster just because Beyoncé mentions Red Lobster in "Formation." What’s worse is that the reference is actually only in regards to where Beyoncé takes male sexual partners if they give her satisfactory intercourse…Totally racist, I know. Like how dare she reward her partner for an exceptional sexual feat? (Which is the only appropriate phrase for the noteworthy event of a man actually caring to sexually satisfy a woman, but I digress.) This racist madness will only end if you stop eating at Red Lobster!
If you still aren’t sure how you feel about the “Beyoncé is a racist” movement, I think you should do some self-reflection using the flow chart below:
