Last week, Twitter imploded as one of the most vicious attacks unfolded out of nowhere, involving Zayn Malik and Azealia Banks. Azealia, a rapper who is much more famous (and I use that word lightly) for being a homophobic, transphobic, anti-Semitic Internet troll than for her music career, lashed out at Zayn for some tweets that she presumed to be directed toward her.
Azealia seized the
opportunity to get her name in the news, and went on a rampage hurling racist and
homophobic insults at Zayn, using every horrible slur imaginable to insult his
Pakistani heritage. These are just a few of those tweets.
After tweeting a very accurate and harmless “Azealia Banks needs to simmer down a little,” Disney Channel star Skai Jackson became the next target for Azealia’s vitriol, as she attacked the 14-year-old child’s body and career. Skai quickly shut Azealia down with a series of tweets that will go down in history as being some of the most iconic to ever grace the Internet.
Although I admit to being someone who loves to watch drama unfold from afar, this whole situation is, above anything, truly disheartening. Once Azealia’s Twitter account was suspended, she created another short-lived one and tweeted, “I feel personally victimized by @twitter you have a problem with a black bitch speaking her mind but not isis accounts child porn etc… Something’s wrong when a black woman’s opinion calls for suspension where’s @realDonaldTrump suspension?”
There are absolutely no excuses for the revolting things she has said, and while her suspension from Twitter is much-needed, this tweet actually made me think. Especially when she wrote in an essay posted to her Instagram account, “I’m not blaming anyone or anything for any of my actions, but I think it’s really important to for people outside of us (black folk) to understand the detrimental effects of whiteness and white supremacy/white cultural pervasiveness on black peoples MENTAL HEALTH as a whole and the MENTAL HEALTH of black individual herself.” Again, her insults are deplorable and inexcusable, but it is true that I cannot, and will never truly understand the struggles and frustrations that women of color face, including Azealia’s.
However, she ceased to make any sense whatsoever when she added, “Calling (Zayn) racial slurs was my way of trying to angrily remind him that he is in fact not one of them, he’s one of US. The white privileges he’s so eager to take part in do not apply to him.” She continued, “Big apologies to anyone who was offended by any of the things I said. Not sorry I said it. But sorry for the way I made people feel. Everyone except the targets of my tirades.” What…?
By discrediting the feelings of the people she so viciously attacked, she is essentially at the same time attempting to invalidate the feelings of others who identify with them. I can imagine that seeing Skai Jackson on the Disney Channel is a wonderful thing for African-American girls who feel underrepresented, and know that so many young Muslim and Asian people look up to Zayn Malik for being such a prominent, proudly Muslim and Pakistani person in pop culture. I am saddened by this entire situation, and if mental illness really is the culprit behind Azealia Banks’ severely misplaced anger and being a disgusting individual in general, I truly hope that she seeks the help that she needs.
