It’s known far and wide that Beyoncé slaying the 2016 Super Bowl performance caused major backlash. It’s irrefutable that Beyoncé and her crew resembled the Black Panthers. Decked out in a black leotard and a black leather jacket, Beyoncé was surrounded by her dancers with afros topped with black berets. Whether you can understand why and accept that is another question entirely.
A police sergeant of Detroit and a comedian Owen Benjamin, amongst others, couldn’t handle it.
The Detroit police sergeant created a meme claiming because Beyoncé’s Black-Panther-embodying dancers performed this year, the Ku Klux Klan should be able to perform next year.
Source: WJBK TV
Then enters Owen Benjamin.
However, before we light torches and rally the pitchforks following this criticism, lets take the time to educate ourselves, starting with the Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The KKK was founded in 1866 and revolves around a white supremacy ideology. This group reaches across the United States and engages in criminal activity ranging from hate crimes to domestic terrorism. The KKK has killed and traumatized thousands of people based on the group’s racist beliefs.
The Black Panthers were founded in 1966 and began as the Black Panther Party for Self- Defense. The group assembled during the Civil Rights Movement and arose to create equality amongst people of color. The Black Panthers support the black power movement and stress racial dignity and self- reliance. And they too did not shy away from violence; they used guns and other weapons based on their premise of self-defense. The Black Panthers engaged in criminal activity as well and killed many people.
With that in mind, approach Beyoncé’s video “Formation,” a video which embodies and places a blinding light on the struggles and stigmas that affect African Americans.
The music video opens with Beyoncé squatting on a floating police car in what resembles New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina, a renown place for it’s African ancestry. What’s key about this opening is the voice over. Anthony M. Barre, othe wise known as Messy Mya, is the owner of said voice. Messy was an African American rapper, comedian and a New Orleans icon who took to YouTube to dish about his daily life.
He was ultimately shot and killed in 2010, at age 22, after leaving his unborn child’s baby shower. His murder has yet to be solved to this very day. Beyoncé’s collaboration with Messy brought light to his situation and a sad truth that Messy spoke about days before he died: a young man’s life expectancy in New Orleans is limited.
Something that couldn’t go unnoticed in the music video was the scene where a little black boy stood before a barrier of police officers with the phrase, “Stop Shooting Us“ spray-painted on the wall. This is a direct response to the anger and fear that minorities face with police brutality.
You may know that Beyoncé released the video for “Formation” the day before Super Bowl 50. But it is not commonly known that the “Formation” release date was also the day after Trayvon Martin’s birthday, the African American teen that was shot and killed in Florida four years ago. Maybe that is pure coincidence, but I’ll let you decide.
Now, absorb the statement that Beyoncé is making throughout her video into one symbol: a fist. This fist represents black power and unity, something that the Black Panthers adamantly stood for.
So when you look back at Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance, think of what she’s representing when she holds up her fist and physically embodies the Black Panthers. And after looking at the criticism and retorts, you tell me, did Beyoncé “basically just do a KKK dance routine”?