Don’t Flee the Beyhive

 

An entire week has passed, yet the backlash from Beyoncé’s super bowl halftime 

 

performance has continued to grow. The social media hashtag #boycottBeyonce is 

 

being used by thousands of online users and there is even an anti-Beyoncé protest 

 

planned for February 16th in front of the NFL headquarters. But tickets for the 

 

“Formation” tour went on sale this week… will you be buying a ticket?

 

 

I know I will. In reality, Queen Bey has never really been well received by Fox news nor 

 

many of the right wing extremists. Perhaps it is because she is one of the most 

 

influential women in the world, or even more frightening, a powerful, provocative, and 

 

talented African American woman with copious influence over today’s media. Mrs. 

 

Carter’s halftime performance of “Formation” was an excellent display of talent and 

 

strength, so certainly some controversy was expected. But many reporters have been 

 

accusing the star of being “anti-white” and “anti-police”… And to be honest, I almost 

 

went along with them. 

 

 

As a Caucasian female and granddaughter to a member of the police force, I was 

 

initially unnerved by the sinking police car and colonial apparel reminiscent of the pre-

 

Civil war era. I wondered why Queen Bey would use her platform to confront the people 

 

who put their lives at risk to protect the American people. I was afraid that she was 

 

using her influence to make whites uncomfortable and heighten the racial tension that 

 

has existed in America for centuries, despite efforts to diffuse it. 

 

 

But this week’s, NBC’s Saturday Night Live aired a satirical skit titled “The Day Beyoncé 

 

Turned Black.” The mock trailer poked fun at some of the conservatives who slammed 

 

the “Formation” video and super bowl performance by setting up a nightmare world in 

 

which nothing made sense anymore for the white people living in it. One character, 

 

Bobby Moynihan, comes to the realization that “maybe this song isn’t for us,” to which 

 

another character, Cecily Strong, responds, “but everything usually is!”

 

 

This nightmare trailer woke me up from my white privilege daydream and led me to a 

 

realization. America has a dark history of not-so-patriotic practices and attitudes, but the 

 

racism that evolved from that time is still a very real part of the America we know today. 

 

It’s evident that much of the past has been spent erasing and belittling African American 

 

culture for use in white society. Taking bits and pieces of black identity, whites have 

 

been sanitizing the culture and using it for their own consumption for years. Not until 

 

recently have African American artists been telling their own narratives, and it’s making 

 

white people uncomfortable. White Americans haven’t been taught to assimilate cultural 

 

expressions that are not our own, because much of the media and music they have 

 

been exposed to is filtered to match the schemas that exist already in the advantaged 

 

mind. The reason stories of oppression and the delicate and complex history of black 

 

culture don’t make sense to whites is because they aren’t able to relate to many of the 

 

narratives. Without taking the time to consider the stories the black community may 

 

have to tell, the accounts are written off because they don’t exactly fit white 

 

preconceptions.

 

 

As for the sinking police car, many have been too quick to think that to stand up for 

 

black lives lost to police violence is inherently “anti-police.” Rather than a stab at the 

 

police force, Bey’s performance was a call to action and a rallying cry for the Black 

 

Lives Matter movement. She used the release of her single “Formation” to acknowledge 

 

that she has indeed achieved great fame, wealth, and success, but she knows her 

 

roots, and she is aligning herself with the black community and movement to save black 

 

lives. 

 

 

Beyonce’s halftime show is a great example of how a young, powerful and talented 

 

black woman can tell a story of oppression and give a voice back to blacks who have 

 

been silenced for years. She did not do so with disrespect or vehemence, but rather 

 

peacefully, to help cultivate a reverent black movement that does not need the approval 

 

of white privilege. So buy yourself a ticket to see the Queen B. And keep hot sauce in 

 

your bag. Swag.