So by now this might be old hat, but last week when T-Swift’s new music video dropped all of the internet seemed to be in an uproar about the apparent rampant racism of the video. Intrigued by all of the hype, I decided to watch it to see what all of the buzz was about.
What I encountered was certainly not racism but instead an embodiment of stereotypes, and not just the kind about black people. When I watched a row of girls (both black AND white) lined up in daisy dukes and crop tops, busy shaking what their mamas gave them, while decked out in hoop earrings and gold chains, I didn’t interpret that as Taylor’s so-called racism but instead as a rendition of the kinds of images we see in videos from the Hip Hop music genre. To be fair, this is frequently what is seen in rapper’s music videos. Taylor here depicts a reflection of how black people have chosen to depict themselves in their own music videos and in the media. That is not racism.
If you consider all of the other types of DANCERS portrayed in her video (cheerleaders, ballerinas, break dancers, interpretive dancers, and lady gaga-esque hand-dancers), why would we choose to focus on the twerkers? It’s just another style of dance. Notice, also, that there are white girls in the twerk line and black girls at the ballet bar. This video has nothing to do with race, it has only to do with dance and culture.
I’m no T-Swift fan. While I will admit that the song Shake It Off is kind of catchy, it still isn’t really my jam. It seems to me that the masses are searching for a scapegoat. For someone to blame, point fingers at, and drag down. While T-Swift may be America’s sweetheart no one, not even her, is immune to society’s desire to find racism and injustice in every possible source, even when its not actually present. There certainly IS a lot of racism and injustice in the world, but I don’t think Taylor Swift’s video is a source. Plus, as Taylor sings, “the haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate.” She probably doesn’t care that you thinks she’s being racist, anyway.