a quote from the 1968 blaxploitation movie Black Jesus.
You (Black people) go for it because you're chumps...You enjoy being lied to...
Imam Jamil Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown)
I admit I have a habit of looking in the wrong places. Sometimes.
What do I mean?
I wanted so badly to gather other information proving my point that Beyonce's Super Bowl performance was not a tribute to the late Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, or any Black Power movement for that matter, I briefly suspended my blogging for a few days, searching high and low on all media outlets beit mainstream, independent or social, looking for SOMEONE who had an ounce of a fraction of evidence corroborating with my position. I even resorted to watching Youtube videos by some members of the "Afrikan" or "conscious" community, you know that community that claims consciousness, and decries other Blacks as being brainwashed, constantly on the lookout for hints of Illuminati, berates religion, refers to Black people who believe in a diety other than themselves as "mental slaves"? Yeah those people. Well, suffice to say I didn't get anything useful from those videos other than the fact that there seem to be quite a few people out here ascribing supremacy, divinity, superior intelligence, and the whole nine to themselves, yet could not see beyond the surface of Beyonce's performance. Between the surprising celebrations of some, and skepticism of others, sprinkled with the usual Illuminati proclamations, and some even claiming the game was fixed, I found myself becoming despondent, and eventually took a brief pause from the blog.
I was at the point of deciding to just post images on the last part of this blog, when I spotted this video on Youtube.
Here is the corresponding February 9, 2016 article:
http://newsone.com/3355014/white-feminists-attack-beyonce-for-being-left-out-of-formation/
To sum it up, it seems that a White feminist, a singer named Arika Kane, took offense to the performance, due to the exclusivity of only Black female dancers in Beyonce's performance. She tweeted her disdain of the performance, to which TV One newsman Roland Martin responded with his own tweet;
Arika's tweet set members of a social group called Black Twitter on the defensive, as well as a host of other Black people, who quickly responded with a plethora of tweets, youtube video responses, and the like, mostly in defense of Beyonce's performance and video. Azealia Banks, known for her Twitter tirades, took Arika to task.
http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2016/02/azealia-banks-beyonce-white-feminists/
But the Arika Kane tweet sticks out, if we were to pay closer attention. Apparently Beyonce's stealth tribute to Black feminism was picked up by some White feminists who felt slighted, and as expected they made comments about it. I get it, just like I got that song Formation, which many Blacks took as empowering, though the video did not match with the lyrics, but that's another blog.
Meanwhile many Blacks sat by, judging her performance solely on what was perceived, not referring to any true historical references, nor making any clear analysis, and being enchanted only with the imagery on the television or the field. Such is the way of subversion.
If you pay close attention to the above video, you would notice the TV One network news host Roland Martin going in on Arika Kane, along with Michelle Bernard, giving her perspective on the matter. But the question to ask is why them?
TV One is partly owned by Catherine Hughes, a black woman, the only television company partially owned by a minority. If you take that into consideration with the fact that Michelle also describes herself as a feminist, you would understand why they would become upset and make light of the insinuations made by Arika, and the catfight begins.
But what is really missed is the fact that feminism was not supposed to be the central theme of Beyonce's performance in the first place.
Or was it?
Have we been hoodwinked again?
Black feminism, or Womanism, as some would like to refer to it as, has been used by the corporate conglomerates and other entities to perpetuate the gender war between Black men and women, and make a profit from it as well, no doubt about it. Claims of heteropatriarchy, Black male incompetence, and Black men intentionally throwing Black women and Black LGBT members "under the bus" flood the airwaves, beit Oprah and her propaganda network OWN, talk shows, the Shonda Rhimes legacy being built, supported and propagated by the ABC television network, Ebony Magazine's hiring of Keirna Mayo, a self-proclaimed Black feminist who caused quite a stir last November with the controversial "Family Issue" regarding Bill Cosby's sexual assault allegations, Univision's purchase of The Root, a notoriously feminist online publication that validated even V. Stiviano's "gold-digging hustle", the movie The Perfect Guy, starring Sanaa Lathan, which premiered on September 11th of last year (never forget, huh?), the selecting of Serena Williams as Sportsperson of the Year in 2015, and Spike Lee's failed film "Chiraq" for its Black feminist overtones and satirizing the violence in Chicago. Factor all of this in with the fact that The Black Lives Matter Movement is a feminist/LGBT organization, and you should come to the quick conclusion that things just don't look good for hetero Black men in America right now.
And who can forget last year's Emmy Award acceptance speech made by Viola Davis after winning the award for How To Get Away With Murder? Remember that diatribe she made, as if to give the impression that everyone is sitting in the lap of luxury except the Black woman? As is Black men are laced out, living it up at the expense of Black women? I mean c'mon sister.
Her famous proclamation that the only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity received much applause from the likes of Black women, and even some Black men, even some "conscious" men, but it didn't sit too well with the likes of Patricia Arquette. To women like her this was not the time or place to champion such an issue.
See game recognizes game. Feminists knew just what Beyonce was trying to pull at the Super Bowl. Some White feminists didn't mind, supporting it for its wide range implications, but others like Arika, did not take too kindly, because of what appeared to be exclusionary and divisive. But what some White feminists don't realize that in some instances, they too can become collateral damage in the bigger scheme. Who cares about a handful of pissed off White feminists when you're specifically targeting the Black community? See White feminism causes immediate suspicion among the Black community in America, so you need the ace in the hole, a Black feminist to drive the wedge in the Black community. Madonna, Taylor, Miley and the like can't do it, but Nikki, Beyonce, Oprah and other influential Black women who ascribe to this "skrong, independent Black woman" and "Brothers Ain't Sh*t" theory can. Such is the way of tokenism.
Since Beyonce claims to be a feminist, then she must abide by the rules set by feminists, e.g. the White feminists. She can't continue this schizophrenic pace of trying to maintain "relevancy" in all areas, especially if you've made it perfectly clear that you describe yourself as a feminist. After all, feminism was mainly a White, middle-class, female phenomenon, brought on by White liberals, having nothing to do with the plight of women of color, regardless of how women of all races try to "intersectionalize" feminism in terms of race. Not including your White feminist sisters, who introduced Black women to the concept of feminism in the first place, may come back to haunt you when they cry foul, and some may expose your plan in the end. Like Arika Kane. You need to clue them in next time.
Look, it's a known fact by now the NFL has become radically feminized and politically correct, and Girl Power is one of the predominate themes here, as exemplified by the hiring of female coaches, the commemoration of Breast Cancer awareness month, which brings in dollars from the sales of "pink" attire, and the impact of women leading to the expulsion of Ray Rice for his part in the altercation between he and his wife. I say altercation and not domestic violence, because it clearly was not a case of a man just "abusing" his wife.
Some of us know women makeup the largest consumer base in the world. Some of us have actually done some studying on Edward L. Bernays, and some have read books like Brandwashed, Buyology, and The Hidden Persuaders.
So for future references, there's really no need to hide anymore. And to have the media, whether conservative or liberal, intentionally mislead people with Black Power/Nationalist/Liberation references at a time when heterosexual Black men are being demonized, profiled, disenfranchised, imprisoned and killed in America is just plain ridiculous.
But nice try though.
Black Panthers...Malcolm X....yeah right.
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