Fans Leaving the Beyhive are Complete Racists

The past few days have been filled with buzz about Beyoncé and her bold music video she released over the weekend called "Formation". She performed this new hit at the Super Bowl, which added to the hype. Beyoncé has many fans that adorn her, but it seems her last music drop has some fans going rogue, even boycotting her. As surprised as I'd like to be, mainstream America has pulled enough stunts for me to be numb to their foolishness.



For Beyoncé to lose fans for having a political standpoint on a poignant topic of today exposes many unfortunate truths. It exposes the truth about the role of woman entertainers. It exposes the expectations of fans. It exposes how racist Americans still are. Beyoncé has been building her brand for a long time now, and fans have been on board with her every move. From her weird boob suit to her "Bow Down Bitches" song, all her stans cosigned. Now that she's challenged the police and their anti-blackness, fans turn their backs to her. It's laughable at how blatant the racism is in this situation.

                      

This "boycott" shows how disloyal many of her fans were. They love to see her dance and be fierce on stage but so long as it doesn't have a social justice message. She can wear sexy outfits and do hair-flip, but she better not speak on police brutality. Fans expect one model of artists, one that is light-hearted and accessible to all. As soon as they have an opinion, crowds try to backlist them. White privilege has struck again, ceasing to realizes the things Beyoncé brought up in "Formation" are real problems that need fixing and that oh hey I don't know IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND THE 50TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE BLACK PANTHERS. So please try to get over it; and be mad about the thousands of people of color who die at the hands of police officers.



 

And the list goes on...

Why It's Time For Black Women To Stop Hating On Beyonce

Beyoncé is definitely a love or hate artist. You're either dissing her or apart of the Beyhive. Admittedly I was a hater; I used to blame her for Destiny's Child breaking up and thought she was shady about her success. I admit I belittled the hard work she constantly puts into her craft for her fans. While it seemed harmless, I now realize knocking Beyoncé down is destructive as a black woman. As Beyoncé is becoming bolder about the police brutality issue in America, it is imperative now more than ever that black woman are uplifting Bey.


As the Black Lives Matter movement progresses, a lot more variables come into consideration, one being support received from black celebrities. Queen B and husband Jay-Z have been providing funds towards the Ferguson and Baltimore actions, particularly with bailouts. Mr. Carter has even gotten political at a performance in New York saying "...You know when I worked, I used to slave right? You know I ain't shucking and jiving and high-fiving you know this ain't back in the day right? Well I can't tell; the way they killed Freddie Gray, shot down Mike Brown, how they killed Tray right?" it's clear the couple is as angry as the rest of us and they're doing something about it.





Saturday while scrolling through my various social media accounts, one thing was in common with all of them: everyone was talking about Beyoncé's "Formation" music video. I didn't think much of it at first, but once I saw people praising her for defending Baby Blue's hair, calling out police violence, and her performing (and killing) the song at the Super Bowl, I believed the hype and checked it out. To my surprise, the hype was right.

"Formation" Beyoncé
https://youtu.be/LrCHz1gwzTo


Beyoncé's video was everything from political to black girl magic (I mean did you see those ladies working?!). It was also a call to black women. Looking back at all the organizing since 2012, many critiques about protests and actions was that women were the majority and in the forefront of everything. Women hold down black men and mobilize when it's time to fight for their justice and more importantly their livelihood. I believe that "Formation" is a call to become even more militant in our activism and shake the revolution up.



Beyoncé Super Bowl 2016
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/7/10934378/super-bowl-50-halftime-show-2016-beyonce?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=share:article:top

This is why I'm deciding to stop being a hater of Beyoncé and support her. I as a black woman now share a common goal with Beyoncé: we want the police to stop being anti-black. We want America to care about black lives. That's enough for me to stop being a negative Nancy about the music icon and embrace her efforts.

Now I'm not joint the Beyhive or anything, but I am glad to say I support Beyoncé. Her political standpoint is a bold one to take in her industry and people are already responding negatively, as they wish to boycott her. It won't matter though, she has gained more fans than lost by being about something important to black people today. Kudos to you, Mrs. Carter!

Action For Akai Gurley

On November 20, 2015 what was around 300+ people were gathered at the 2724 Linden St. Section 8 housing to speak, march and remember Akai Gurley. A year ago that day he was shot to death by a NYPD officer patrolling his section 8 housing. Officers go around patrolling section 8 housing, criminalizing those of low income. It sickens me because once again we have a cop shooting out of "fear for their life". Akai would of been the same age as my brother; it's hard to imagine how this has affected his family, losing someone so unexpectedly- so wrongfully.

Though the thought of his death brings sadness, it also keeps the fight alive. For his death also reveals a truth about Section 8 housing. The conditions of the housing on Linden St. is heart breaking. Knowing folks in the community are subject to living in buildings with mold, low maintenance and hazardous unfinished construction for years on end is very disturbing. The way Section 8 housing is constructed, just the structure in itself, mimics prison culture. One has to ask their self why it is so? Why does society criminalize low income communities members? Why do they violate there privacy? Why do they devalue their lives? These are things I'm challenged to question while being angry enough to fight. I've got to fight for Akai; his family definitely does. We as the Brooklyn community must fight so the NYPD learns they cannot continue to patrol, violate and kill our people. This year anniversary of Aka Gurley's death proves that is exactly what folks are doing. He continues to live on as others fight in his name.

 

 

A young woman did a great job organizing and speaking at the march. Shut It Down NY also did a great job of fact checking Akai's story. Though it was painful reading them aloud, it was empowering calling out Officer Lang and his wrongdoings. As we marched through and around that section 8 housing we showed that Brooklyn neighborhood that we haven't forgotten about Akai Gurley. We want to shut down the constant violation of human rights that the police put citizens through. We reinforced that black lives matter and that all lives will matter once black lives matter. His case continues and we will fight until it's won.