This may come as a surprise to you, but a lot of people get angry when you bring up the existence of white privilege. There's something threatening to some people about that phrase and I never really understood until I started hearing some of the reasoning that people had for it not existing. "I'm not rich, and being white doesn't help me pay bills," someone once told me. That's when I noticed that many people who experience white privilege don't understand what it means. White privilege isn't saying we're all rich kids with rich perfect parents spending our summers without a care in the world. On an individual scale, it is not cancelling out our everyday struggles. It' doesn't say that white people do not have problems or bad lives. The difference is, our problems are rare because of our race. I have never been randomly selected at the airport, in my life. A police officer has never looked at me with unreasonable suspicion. White privilege is more about the social idea of minorities having to deal with an influx of problems that white people just don't, because some people mistake majority with superiority.

One distinct issue (among many other more serious ones) is that minorities aren't represented in Western media as frequently, therefore young children who are minorities grow up wondering why there aren't people like them on screen. They rarely get to see their cultures represented, and if they do, they are often written to simply blend into the story line to animate them.

So with this, you might wonder why I would write an article about Beyonce's 'Lemonade' with the explanation of white privilege. Here's why: Beyonce's 'Lemonade' is the narrative of a black woman, meant to be the narrative of a black woman and will continue to be the narrative of a black woman. But, we are privileged in this society, so privileged that the media has personally decided to try to sell it as a breakup album in which every line relates to all of us, mainly women. It is not. Beyonce's album is about the black experience. It is to give black woman a voice. To say it is just some pop breakup album is degrading it so that everyone can say that they relate, and it should not be done.

"The most disrespected person in America is the black woman", Malcolm X says in the middle of "Don't Hurt Yourself" in the visual album's version. The video pans over the face of everyday black women. Watching the hour long movie several times, I figured something out very quickly. This visual album is not made for me to relate to or understand on a personal level, but I'm not complaining. I celebrate it, I learn from it. I am glad that this was not made for me, because so much of modern media is. The only thing that frustrated me about the album, was the way it was perceived in the media. I can go online and see the name Rachel Roy everywhere. I can also turn on the news and see not the discussion of snippets of "Forward", a solemn anthem that highlights victims of police brutality, but instead one line in Beyonce's song "Sorry."

I wish the media would realize that the search for 'Becky with the good hair' is overshadowing the 50 other themes in Lemonade that are so much more important. They are too consumed with this one line, that takes up about five seconds of the whole entire movie that they are choosing to subconsciously or consciously ignore the bigger statement. Yes, Beyonce is winding her wisdom and her words around a narrative of a woman getting cheated on by her husband then over time learning to forgive. But, that's not the whole album's theme. The showcasing of African culture is so prevalent, positive views of black women in the media and the Black Lives Matter movement are so intensely important to America, especially now. It is a true shame that the media has decided to pick the most shallow line of the whole album to focus in on. We do not need to focus on finding Becky (and no Iggy Azalea -- Becky is not a racist term). We desperately need to showcase a narrative of a black woman, and the issues facing the black community, black culture and make people listen to the prevalent issues. Beyonce did just that, but most of the media missed that memo at the mention of a little bit of mystery.

The symbolism in the video could be missed without research, or knowledge. When I first watched the visual album I missed many things that this article points out. I knew the words that Beyonce spoke in between songs likely weren't hers due to the things said about appearance. The poet who wrote the poems, Warsan Shire, says her hair grew past her ankles and she did things that we would likely notice of Beyonce. She uses these words as the narrative of her story simply because they fit, they make sense, even if her story is fictional as some claim, it's relatable and important. Throughout the album, black girls and black women alike showcase the many stages of life. The film touches on so many valuable aspects of the experience of black women in our society.

There is unity among the women in the video, which brings me to my next point. Feminism is not dead because Jay Z cheated on Beyonce, and she stayed. Firstly, let me explain that none of us really know or understand to what extent the infidelity was, if there was any at all. Many people believe that this was all just a fictional representation. But if there was an infidelity, they have gotten past it. I don't think it's up to anybody to speculate that Beyonce is being a "bad feminist" for staying with the father of her child. So many people are so quick to condemn without proper knowledge of the situation. While Beyonce doesn't delve into every single detail of infidelity she does have an amazing message throughout most of the visual album. Many of the same people who are saying Beyonce should not be a feminist, who question her judgement, are voting for Hillary Clinton because she is "a strong woman". What kind of hypocrisy are you preaching here? Why is it okay for Hillary to stay with Bill but Beyonce not to stay with Jay-Z? What is the subconscious difference you are dissecting in your brain? Why can't we focus on all the positive things that Beyonce shares? She is trying to bring back a voice that is often silenced.

"How are we supposed to lead our children to the future? How do we lead 'em? Love. L-O-V-E, love", for the first time in the video, someone besides Beyonce speaks. An older woman's voice speaks about the younger generation before the song Forward. Beyonce and other woman walk around a cabin set in the 1800's. It's symbolic. It is that the time period in human history no longer exists but these woman, all of them, are still aware of it and are able to somehow revisit it. (There are many symbols for pre-civil war periods throughout the film.) Pictures of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown are shown being held by their mothers. There is a deep message buried in the solemn faces of these women. There is a fight, it is ongoing, and they need to move forward with love. Some people may call Beyonce out for using her platform to talk about these things. But, they do not understand how important it is. With the vision of Lemonade, the visual album, bringing more light to a movement that the media often ignores, people are forced to face the hard truth of Black Lives Matters' campaigns. I am the daughter of a retired police officer, and he was a good police officer. But, I am aware that out there in the United States there are police officers who would shoot a child with a toy gun because of ignorant fear. The Black Lives Matter movement isn't saying everyone else doesn't, it's saying that innocent people do not deserve to die at the hands of people who should believe they matter, and are in need of protecting not punishing. To say that just because celebrities, who have a platform of fans and people who are listening constantly, should butt out of political situations makes no sense whatsoever.

We need more celebrity activists for many issues that plague us in society today. We need more visual albums, and more life experiences that show that celebrities in a realistic light. 'Lemonade' is a marvelous step in that direction.