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I was born and raised in New Awlins and never miss the opportunity to remind folks of that. So when Beyoncé’s video for “Formation” dropped on Saturday, I, like the majority of my homegirls, was hype.
I wasn’t excited because I’m a certified Beyoncé stan, because the video is visually stunning, or because this seemed to be the Blackest iteration of Beyoncé yet. I was hype because she seemed to be reppin’ New Awlins hard, and not in a tepid “I heart N.O.” kind of way, but more in line with our playfully defiant brand of Blackness. That she unleashed the video during Mardi Gras weekend? It just couldn’t get any better!
Until it got worse.
The video came out on Saturday afternoon. By Saturday evening, folks were already engaged in rigorous debate on social media. On Sunday, the interwebs had become a volatile, difficult space for anyone who had anything to say about Bey or her “Formation.”
I logged off in an attempt to avoid the fires, but by Monday (February 8), I had participated in e-mail, text and WhatsApp exchanges and two separate-but-related phone conversations with girlfriends—all about Beyoncé.
In one of those conversations, a girlfriend said something to me that forced me to check myself. We were talking about all of the issues and angles that folks were engaging online—from capitalism to appropriation to resistance to the triggering of Hurricane Katrina survivors. I noted that no one was engaging Beyoncé’s spoken and unspoken statements about identity and skin-color politics. My friend said, “We are so two-faced when it comes to colorism.”
And we are.
While Bey let all the folks who’ve been talking crazy about Blue Ivy’s hair have it with, “I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros,” I can’t help but wonder why the two little girls in the video playing with Blue are significantly darker than her and dressed like old women afraid of the sun while Blue shines, hand on hip, in a sundress.
I cheer Bey on as she sings, “I like my Negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils.” But I cringe when I hear her chant, “You mix that Negro with that Creole make a Texas bamma” about her Alabama-born dad and her mom from Louisiana. This is the same reason I cringed at the L’Oreal ad that identified Beyonce as African-American, Native American and French and why I don’t appreciate her largely unknown song “Creole.”
Having grown up black-Black (read: dark-skinned) in colorstruck New Awlins, hearing someone, particularly a woman, make a distinction between Creole and “Negro” is deeply triggering. This isn’t just for me but for many New Orleanians.
For generations, Creoles—people descended from a cultural/racial mixture of African, French, Spanish and/or Native American people—have distinguished themselves racially from “regular Negroes.” In New Orleans, phenotype—namely “pretty color and good hair”—translates to (relative) power.
In this context, people who are light skinned, with non-kinky hair and the ability to claim a Creole heritage have had access to educational, occupational, social and political opportunities that darker skinned, kinkier-haired, non-Creole folks have been denied. In many ways, among those of us who are not Creole and whose skin is dark brown, the claiming of a Creole identity is read as rejection. And I’m not just talking about history books or critical race theory. I’m talking about on-the-ground, real-life experiences.
In 2004 I interviewed three generations of women from New Orleans who identified as Creole. I heard from a 90-something grandmother who struggled to acknowledge that Creole included African ancestry; her daughter who is no darker than Beyoncé but nicknamed “Inka Boo” by her family; and her granddaughter whose brown-skinned son was often told to step out of family photographs so as to not “throw the picture off.” These women’s testimonies only confirmed what I had always known: that much of the investment in Creole identity is predicated on a vehement rejection of Blackness.
I’ve had my own painful personal experiences with this. For example, two years prior to conducting this research, I was excluded from the wedding of a Creole-identifying colleague whom I considered a friend. Thinking she had made a mistake, I asked her, “Girl, where is my invitation?” And she responded, very matter-of-factly, “Oh girl, my mama and ‘nem would pass out if you came to my wedding.”
So while it may seem innocent that Beyoncé describes herself as a mixture of Creole and “Negro,” this particular celebration of her self invokes a historical narrative that forces some of us to look at her sideways. Even in the midst of her Blackest Blackity Black Blackness, we find remnants of anti-Blackness. And yet, we still rock with her.
Had this been any other artist, I likely would have pounced on these contradictions immediately. Instead, I’m now facing my own. I’m asking myself what it is about Beyoncé that can silence even me, a scholar who researches and writes about color issues and who grew up in a city where the deep shade of her complexion literally determined who she could be friends with. How did I overlook themes in “Formation” that dredge up some of my oldest pains for the sake of enjoying a music video?
Honestly, I don’t know. I can say that more often than not, I recognize how far I’ve come, how much I’ve grown, and how much the wounds of colorism have healed. Still, in moments like this, when tensions are high even among friends, family and colleagues whom I like, love and admire, I’m reminded of just how deep those wounds are.
What I am clear about is that I am watching “Formation” through a very tenuous and personal lens colored by my experiences growing up in New Orleans. And rather than wake all of that up, I’ve tried to keep it moving, especially on social media. I just don’t trust that what I might gain in having the dialogue is worth what I might lose. And while I am impressed by the online conversations that Beyoncé has sparked yet again, I am discouraged by our inability to be honest about our own stuff.
Some of us are out here responding from a personal place and calling it analysis. We won’t allow others to have opinions that are different than our own without coming for their necks. But we have got to be honest enough to react to ”Formation” from a personal place. We need to say, “You know what? This argument ain’t about Bey. It’s about me.” Most important, we need to ask New Orleans how she feels about this video. From what I’m hearing, she’s not too happy.
A work as racially and emotionally charged as “Formation” is bound to cause tension. And because Beyoncé so often evokes something very personal, we need to approach one another with more care and caution. After all, it is very possible to enjoy the “Formation” song and video and take issue with it at the same damn time. Because we’re human.
Yaba Blay, Ph.D. is the author of “(1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race.” Her ethnographic case study of skin color and identity in New Orleans entitled “Pretty Color and Good Hair” is featured as a chapter in the anthology “Blackberries and Redbones: Critical Articulations of Black Hair/Body Politics in Africana Communities.” Blay is currently the Dan Blue endowed chair in political Science at North Carolina Central University.
90 Comments
I'm a white woman, and I clearly do not identify with Beyonce's video, but I am captivated by the thoughts it has invoked in the black community and between black people. After reading your article, I was forced to notice how the blackest children and blackest women are all covered up in this video. Where the lighter women are all bearing skin. I think this is as you mentioned, a statement about how those with enough white mixed in are freer to express themselves then those with darker skin, who have a harder time showing themselves. What do you think of that assessment? Something definitely touched me deeply in this video and I am only viewing it as an outsider.
Why do you feel that you cannot identify with Beyoncé, her message and images? As a Black American, we've usually spent a lifetime practicing seeing ourselves in whites . Hopefully that identification is not internalized, but empathetic, and able to understand white people YET also understand white privilege. Understanding white privilege is key to NOT internalizing whiteness, while maintaining the ability to deal with whites as people, not stereotypes. Challenging stereotypes is an important sep along this process. Sure wish the wider/whiter culture did so more regularly.
A really interesting take on the video. And further proof of why we shouldn't expect an artist to speak for all people. For as many articles/posts that I've seen by blacks saying how the song/video isn't "for whites," it's also important to acknowledge that it isn't for all black people either. I don't think that Beyonce is necessarily saying that the song is for all black people, but I think that it's often too easy for the black community to latch on to her (or anyone) as representing (all of) black culture.
Get over yourself....
Right. I dismiss ANYONE who uses the word "triggering"!
I think that just like White audiences were reading too much into this video, this analysis is doing the same. People are projecting too many of their own issues onto this thing that is a piece of entertainment, not a manifesto. Looking at the screen shot of the three children, nothing indicates that the darker girls are dressed as old ladies hiding from the sun. Nor is this message communicated in the second screen shot where both Bey and the darkest-hued sister have on long sleeves. So I call foul on the color politics argument. Also, I find it a shame that a cultural scholar would try to police a multicultural person's right to inclusive self identification. Mama Tina is Creole, a sister of mixed ancestry who feels a connection to a culture that is not only of African descent. Why is that wrong? I get it that the "paper bag" stuff is deeply painful and shame on anyone (past or present) who shames beautiful black people of any hue. But that doesn't mean that mixed folks need to submit to the one-drop rule to make black folks feel more at ease in their own skin. Beyonce is not here for anyone's salvation. She is just an entertainer telling her story, from her perspective. It's not her responsibility (or that of any artist) to sanitize her experience in order for Black folks or White folks to feel more "included".
My sentiments exactly!
Thank you! I am so tired of the division and the you should be down but when you do get down just know we are going to call you not black enough because you identify more than one way narrative. Give me a break. The black culture and race is not one big homogenous group of sameness. You can go to Africa and see that but I don't see Nigerians going around saying Eritreans or Malagasy aren't African because they are fair with curly hair. This is why white people look at us crazy. So busy fighting for an equality that we don't even extend to one another
one quick comment from one who has a child with a Malagasy.... TRY telling some of them they are African.... please, they ARE French if you let them tell the story. Truth be told, they are an interesting people with links to Africa, Indonesia and India (depending which side of the island you are on). But many of the upper-class from Antananarivo (the Capital) identify with the French colonists. Even within a single family though, you can see the same division as you see in this article.
Teresa Keefe, you said that!
Thank you Melonna Clarke, you hit the nail on the head. The good ol' racial divide still ever present amongst blacks themselves, which I know all too well of. Growing up as a bi-racial in a black home was nothing short of interesting as I look back at it. I am a very pale bi-racial. My mother is a white European, my father African American. Because of my extreme paleness, I've been relatively unaccepted in either race, though more so on my black side than white, since one would call me "passing" as white. My red lips, curly hair and generous derriere are my fathers, and that aspect of my blackness has always been pointed out and accepted in the context of "yep, she's one of us". But I'm still too white to be accepted fully. I am instantly disregarded, my thoughts and opinions made invalid by both black and white because of my lack of overt blackness, despite having been raised in an impoverished black household with no car, where I still wonder to this day how my grandmother kept the lights on, food in our bellies and the mortgage paid on just her SSI and my child support alone, i don't know what it's like to be a disenfranchised black person. I've lost some family members to drugs and crime in a city that's considered the most violent in the state of Virginia, while others made their way in life and are living success stories of what anyone can do despite their skin color. Yet, because of my overt whiteness, I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to black issues. Racially, I am a person of color, but I'm not colored enough. I'm apparently not allowed to claim my race. When African Americans of all walks of life learn to accept one another for all their own variety, only then will societal acceptance be gained. When we start putting more care into one another as a community, then the problems we face will get smaller. Stop this division crap and start working together.
I'm biracial too and have light skin but I'll be damned if anyone defines my claim to blackness for me. People can say whatever the hell they want and they have, I don't care. My black experience is just as legit as theirs is.
Dark skin black people get dismissed, passed over and told they aren't as good as us so of course some aren't all that warm and fuzzy about us. That is their issue it isn't mine.
That said it doesn't make her analysis wrong or divisive. What she said is true. I live in Mississippi and I see it all the time.
Biracial is a lie. You are what your father is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYL407iEClc
Right, because Bob Marley was a white man.. Are you serious right now?
Thank you. Hands down the best commentary on this whole video and song.
Basically.
I totally agree!
You really hit the nail on the head with that one! I could not have said it better. Especially the part about it being shameful that a "cultural scholar would try to police a multicultural person's right to inclusive self identification." Props to you. Everything you said was on point. Spoken from a brown-skinned sista!
Bravo! As a mixed race person who is neither / nor and sometimes both, this stood out for me the most: "People are projecting too many of their own issues onto this thing that is a piece of entertainment, not a manifesto. Looking at the screen shot of the three children, nothing indicates that the darker girls are dressed as old ladies hiding from the sun. Nor is this message communicated in the second screen shot where both Bey and the darkest-hued sister have on long sleeves. So I call foul on the color politics argument. Also, I find it a shame that a cultural scholar would try to police a multicultural person's right to inclusive self identification."
Thank you!
Exactly.
This may sound unlikely, but I didn't consciously notice that Beyonce was black until about a year ago when I read a feminist article about her. Now I'm an older white European person with only a passing interest in Pop as part of the culture (I largely catch up on Pop videos when I go to the gym) and I guess I must have noticed she was black on some level, but it didn't register with me that she was a 'Black' artist - more that she was a sexy looking woman who sang catchy tunes and made entertaining videos.
Sure I must have know she was black, simply that in the set of categories I mentally placed her in black came sufficiently far down the list after talent, voice, smarts and the like that it wouldn't pop up as an important character that I would have used in a one line description. Certainly when I read the feminist article about her (something about intersectionality) it popped into the front of my mind that of course she was black, but it just hadn't seemed important before.
So all this stuff about precise skin shades seems just a touch obsessional and over-analysed to me. Really, I'd rather not care too much about what her precise genetic make-up and cultural history is. That's of little importance, what matters is she sings a good tune.
I agree. This is art which essentially means open to interpretation. It's political just being a black woman everyday so I for one am glad she used her lens to shed some light on issues close to her heart.
Great article! This is not something I noticed--and frankly, I'm not sure it's something I would have come to notice if it weren't pointed out to me. Now that you mention it, though, it seems so ... intentional. I wonder--given the political nature of the video--if this was a conversation Beyoncé was hoping to spark.
I mean, she clearly has love for her blackness, and she's not afraid to be plain about that, but it might be harder to be plain about the nuances and degrees of privilege within blackness (either because she has such a broad audience that the message would be lost/muddled or because it could call some aspects of her success into question? ...idk, I'm getting into theories).
Overall, my favorite part of the article: "After all, it is very possible to enjoy the 'Formation' song and video and take issue with it at the same damn time. Because we're human." ... I feel like sometimes we can get so caught up in calling out problematic shit (which we absolutely should do) and subsequently rejecting it, that we forget that we're also allowed to enjoy ourselves.
Thanks for your work and writing.
I noticed another major slight to women of color, that being the women on the ground spinning the umbrellas. These women, who appeared to be Indian, got about 5 seconds of air time, the bulk of the remaining time focused on the mostly white fans on the field. Perhaps the NFL is the biggest culprit of them all. I was watching thinking how awkward it all seemed.
Tokenism diversity is so nauseating. The potential contrast between the smooth R&B in Bruno Mars and the more radical angst of Beyonce and dancers would have been an amazing combination, and an extremely powerful message to Americans. What we got was a too-perplexing blend, and in my opinion a lost opportunity.
Could you elaborate on your last paragraph, on the lost opportunity to use the "potential contrast" between Bruno Mars' R&B and Beyoncé's "radical angst" to send a powerful message to Americans? What would it have been?
It seems like Americans have their hands full enough trying to sort out every intentional, unintentional, true, not true, or in-between messages they can find in "Formation". I think any further attempt at layering on more would've been too much. Maybe after some of the hoopla died down some exceptionally dogged thinkers might turn their attention to other lessons from the performance. But it would be too easy to overlook, and maybe just too heavy-handed? Am I underestimating the people taking part in this national conversation?
So then I wonder, if it could be presented as entertainment but with a message for those who pay attention, why not use every opportunity to communicate to as many as possible among this enormous audience? Which is why I'm interested in some illumation on that particular missed opportunity you suggested. Thank you!
Here's a thought to consider: Perhaps Beyonce is very much well aware of the Creole/Negro dichotomy, and has lived it growing up with her parents' families, and witnessed her sister and friend having to experience the negative effects of colorism in her own family, and she's purposefully making a juxtaposition of them. She is the by-product of the union of two opposing forces within her community, and she is saying enough of the bullshit, WE ALL ARE GREAT. That is the message of the song and the video, Professor Blay. Isn't it?
Dear, at first i just thought, what a brave and relevant read and was going to move on, until i saw some of the comment so i had to comment as well. At least to tell you that i did notice that too. It strike me to see cute baby blue and the seemingly intentional contrast that was drawn between her and her dimmed, covered and not as living and bright side kick.. i ve been following the conversation and i.e. Facebook comment fused like "she got her own kelly and michelle" so people have noticed, and i did wonder what was the message behind that.. what does blue have her own dark skin chicks as props not as friends obviously... and it just brings me back to that feeling of unease with the hypocrisy on colorism in our community... You also say that we need to be careful on not becoming personal in our analysis but i m not so sure why sometimes because beyonce is personal in her music she is very personal even in this song the images might be different but the lyrics are personal and self centered.... and so is every artist.. Are we saying that artists are supposed to speak for everyone, how is that possible?.. So i am definitely personal in my analysis of what is nothing else but pop culture because i can make the difference between a very relevant and great artist and a black or civil rights leader. And I also don't have to prove some type of care for bey to be taken seriously in this world it is my prerogative based on my understanding and interpretation of her work to like it or not...Why is it taboo not to?? What i will not do however is dismiss anyone's point of view and analysis personal or not.. we gather our understanding of the world from our personal experience as well, not just from academia and i think it would be foolish or schizo or incoherent to do otherwise...intuition plays a role in how we navigate the world.. so.. I m loving all this excitement around bey, pop culture dominated by a fierce creole woman what's there not to enjoy, momentarily, the sound it nice, the video is fierce the dancing is off the chain... but then it ends there for me.. and it is ok.. What i can't stand is the constant bickering and fighting and dismissing and insulting going on around her. It seems to be the goal of all of this and having my life, my thoughts and beliefs revolve around proving love for Beyonce or not... is not constructive for my life... it certainly doesn't soothe these masses of people and that's a shame...it shouldn't be that deep, and instead of trying to understand her...i want to understand me and have that reflected in the world around me...that's ok...
I respect you Ms. Blay or Dr. Blay but I have to take some exception. There is nothing wrong with Beyoncé mentioning her Creole background, after all that is her mother's background. As a family historian, I wholly believe in acknowledging and embracing all of what makes you you as a part of the threads of one's own history. For most of my life, I felt as you did that identifying as Creole meant denying one's Blackness and I am not so naïve to believe that this may be the case for some, yes even in 2016. However, being raised in Oakland, California I was around Blacks of Creole heritage from the lightest skin to the darkest who embraced the Creole culture but identify as Black. While some cling to the saying, "I'm not black, I'm Creole". I'm not talking about those folks. Their issues are deep and generational and as the saying goes, "I ain't got time for that." Being Creole and being Black does not have to be mutually exclusive. My friends who claim Creole heritage will tell you, that Creole is a culture and skin color for them is not what makes Creole. My childhood best friend's father, who was dark skinned from New Orleans was the first Creole I knew. Over the years, I watched the dynamics of those who claimed Creole and I came to learn that their identities and their experiences were as varied and diverse according to their family dynamics and past experiences. As I got older and became more observant and educated in matters of identity, colorism, genealogy and family dynamics, I have become more tolerant of folk because we are still a wounded, confused people "colored" by our past, by society in general and black folk in particular because of all this colorism ish. I admire that you admit that you hve been hurt by your past experiences and history as it related to growing up in color-struck Louisiana, however I feel that sometimes black people can be too dramatic when someone, in this case Beyoncé (who is okay by me but I am in no way apart of the Beehive or enamored with her) or any other celebrity mentions they identify as Creole, or something else that it is taken as they don't want to be black. That makes it sound like they should hide their heritage or be afraid to say it for fear of hurting other black's feelings or inferring they are better. It just is not fair to not to be feel free to acknowledge their background. It does not mean they don't want to be known as black. As far as I can see Beyoncé has said more than once she is proud to be a black woman and cites severalblack women as her sheroes Let's not allow our insecurities, our past, our bitterness creep into every nuance of life. The song celebrated BLACK PEOPLE. It doesn't need to be dissected on issues of colorism and identity. Just let it be what it is. A message about us for us.
Love this!
I absolutely agree.
I am Creole through my mother who left NOLA as a child-my dad is white. My whiteness depended on a rejection of blackness--but it wasn't mine. I do identify with the culture: the stories, the food the things my grandmother taught me. Descending from free people of color in New Orleans is a unique and fascinating and I am not interested in denying it. Instead I think it is an interesting culture to explore even though it was historically problematic. Creoles of color were/aren't not just stuck up high yellow people who excluded darker people. They had/have a culture that is rich linguistically, culturally, spiritually and in cuisine. It is an ethnicity. Creole people can be any color. I have cousins of all colors. To say that someone is denying one part of themselves by accepting another is unfair and misses the point. She is multiracial. Bey is not just black--that is her identity. Asking Creoles (of color) to erase their heritage because it has been historically problematic is not the answer-instead I think we should educate about the past and use it to create a more better future.
I appreciate this piece. I cringed at the mixture reference also. When I think of mixed race, I think of a mixture of 2 different races. I always considered Creoles from the black race, especially with their Haitian influence. However, if she wants to acknowledge her indigenous and French race, its mentioning in a "pro black" video confused me.
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Ah, you just illuminated something for me! I'm not familiar with the nuances of color and heritage. It took me until now to see that by identifying her heritage as "Creole" and "Negro" she's separating the Creole *from* the Negro.
But I don't gather that Negro = Black, that they interchangeable. Is she using the name "Negro" to refer to the particular urban, Southern, especially Gulf Coast subculture? Is there otherwise another name for that subculture within the wider national American, Black identity? Then she wouldn't be separating "Creole" from ""Negro" as in "Black" but "Negro" as in an equally unique and specific heritage. Er, right? Am I getting this?
Negro is an old term for black. Not specific to any U.S. region. Black people used to be classified as "Negro" on birth certificates. So, she is saying she's black (Negro) and mixed-black (Creole), from dad and mom, respectively.
Right because policing someone else's self identification of their own blackness isn't problematic. Nope all black peoples regardless of history and admixture must only identify as black because identifying as anything else is shameful and an obvious erasure of blackness as a whole. There's some personal issues here that really need to be ironed out. Why is your blackness and identity threatened by how Beyoncé chooses to define her blackness? Some days I may connect more with my Irish or south Asian side than my black one but that does not in any way diminish my identity as a black woman and I'm not understanding why people are so mad at Beyoncé for creating HER art. She is not here to tell your story, she is telling hers
Amen!
And also to the person who said a creole or mixed person basically can't support the pro black movement...tell that to the many ancestors of mixed descent who died for your right to verbally exclude mixed people from the pro black movement.
The author makes an incredible point, we do view the video with very personal eyes. As opposed to art house videos in which we are more objective. Unfortunately, the many shades of brown, and all their associations, are still a very present issues. This is not unique the African Americans. This issue with complexion is an international one, fairness is a Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Latin American, Caribbean and African American issue. The most critical people are women. We are constantly assessing worth and value on complexion and hair quality. I would go as far as to say we are our worst enemies, perpetuating a false value scale that was used in slave trade and wife aquisition. We do more damage to each other as "hater" than any media can. So I am looking at the video with new eyes, it is a bold sexually charged and extremely historical referral piece of ENTERTAINMENT.
you started well and then you brought everything back to preschool by shouting "hater" that word gotta go... people have brains and 5 senses that they use to identify, define and yes JUDGE the world around them...you may choose not to read into any important symbols that surround us sending us information and messages of worth and self worth...but don't call others haters for choosing a different route.... Beyonce doesn't not represent all black women and we don't even ask her to, it is you the readers who are pressed in shoving her down the throats of everyone...she's good chilling in her givenchy...whats the deal...
thank you, dr. blay, and commenters all, for adding so much to the real discussion here, and thank you for the love and respect shown to one another and beyonce. i wonder to what degree the lyrics of 'formation' are a response to the issues raised here? it seems beyonce may be doing that, howver imperfectly. i would point out that about 100 per cent of my problem with the video is that the lyrics are all about one thing and the visuals have nothing to do with that, and seem to exist to cop moral authority for the lyrics. both, as we seem to agree, have their problems, some of which white people of good will should have nothing to say about. as someone over at the crunk feminist collective said about beyonce in the past, black feminism is rooted in love. are we gonna be equal or are we gonna be free? thank you all.
http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2011/06/14/arielle-loren-asks-“is-beyonce-the-face-of-contemporary-feminism”-my-response/
As far as the Blue Ivy being next to 2 darker skinned girls. My theory this is just a parralel to Destiny Child & not legit a diss to darker women
Thank you so much for this! Last week, on my birthday I received my Ancestry DNA results. I am 86% African, 13% European, and 1% Native American. I am from Togo. For the first time over the weekend as another African mentioned that he is from the Ivory Coast. I hesitantly spoke up and said "I am from Togo." It felt so strange. As I move forward in my journey I worry that even though I have this information I am still not able to be accepted as being from Togo by people who actually live(d) in Togo. It redefines African-American for me. This article triggered so much for me. I don't know if you've been getting negative comments, but here's one black woman saying "THANK YOU!"
My motto is REGRET NOTHING WRITE EVERYTHING!
If Blue had been in between two light skinned girls, it would've been an issue. Bey is saying she's a mix of A Negro and A Creole, they're nouns, not adjectives. She's saying she's a mix of a Black person and a Black person and she's country af. This is really, really a reach.
That's how I saw it. I start to wonder how deeply we should examine every single shot of the video. But in a video so dense with imagery, it's hard to know where to stop. Plus I gotta think that the makers of the video, who obviously carefully staged every frame we see, would be aware of every (at least many) potential, subtle or not-no-subtle, interpretation of their choices. So at once I see a reach, and reading too much into the imagery, AND a well-planned, deliberate piece of art.
For example, what if those are just Blue's two best girlfriends? Were I the mother of a little girl, and making a video, even like this one, I might be inclined to let my baby have her fun with her friends rather than use her to make contradictory visual statements. She's representing both "Afros are beautiful, you are beautiful, love you for you" *and* "darker skin is less beautiful"? How can that be? Are the makers looking that closely at that shot? I don't know. I know I don't *want* to see it as anything but positive.
I think you all are reading too far into it. Blue Ivy was not standing next to darker girls for comparison but for similarity. We are all he same (black) yet different. Our differences gives us deeper insight as to what black really is But sadly African Americans are afraid to identify as anything outside of "African" American when majority of us don't know anything about Africa and DNA testing has proven a lot of us are mixed with other races which almost seems taboo to admit it.
At this point it should be obvious that the color of the skin does not determine who we are. It's the same message we are trying to tell others, but we cannot comprehend it ourselves. Smh
Dr. Blay:
Thank you so much for sharing your personal experiences and how they shape your feelings about the video.
First, I think it makes sense that you'd have mixed feelings about the video. When thinking about how the video is received through *white* eyes, there are a lot of powerful messages to feel good about. But you also view the video through *Black* eyes, and you can't help but feel pain because you've lived the experience of having corrosive white supremacy that has been internalized by Black people for centuries, especially in places like New Orleans. Sometimes it seems like there's no break from it!
Second, I think you do a good job of explaining your reasons for feeling the way you do about Beyonce's video, and anyone with compassion will be able to understand what it is you're reacting to. I'm glad you articulated your reaction and I hope you'll continue to address this subject with the respect and honesty you give to it.
First, I like some of Beyonce's music but I am definitely not a Stan. I haven't been to one concert of hers but she is a powerful force in music, I admit that. But I don't get how being proud of your mixed heritage is a bad thing. Because some ignorant "Creoles" made dark skinned blacks feel inferior that means she should deny her heritage? I am mixed with Black and Asian and for years I denied my mixed heritage because dark skinned Black people made me feel like I wasn't Black enough. It took years for me to finally be ok with being both Black AND Asian. Creole is her heritage and if she wants to celebrate it, good for her. The same way you felt shunned by those lighter skinned Creoles is what you're in essence doing to her; trying to shun her for something she didn't choose to be but simply is. The same way it is wrong to make darker skinned black feel bad about their skin color, the reverse is no better.
This was a really good read. I can honestly say that I see where you're coming from. And when watching the video I had to really ask myself "is this a personal problem or is Bey being problematic?" when really I should just be happy for an anthem that had me walking into work the next day w/my head high. When she says "MIX THAT NEGRO WITH THAT CREOLE" I gave her the side eye BUT I realized the double entendre. People know shes Creole but non-blacks will run with it and tip-toe around the fact that she is black. CREOLE + NEGRO = YOU ARE BLACKKKKKKK...a light skinned black with REMNANTS of french, spanish & native passed down from your granny. So she is saying I'M BLACKKKK lol. Who knows? The contrasting visual of Baby Blu and the darker little girls could've been the same controversial concept J.Cole used for his G.O.M.D historical music video. Is that not the theory that curses Beyonce? Is that not how people look at her? Do people not place their house slave antics onto Bey? Colorism? Being accepted by the black community? Being a black millionaires who ALSO must appeal to non-blacks? I'm sure shes not blind to it, this is her narrative and I can't take it personally. Theory or not I appreciate the art aesthetic she bought this daring video.
Dr. Blay you have garnered a new follower in me. I loved what you wrote, just because it is part of the black/african american/ experience. these are our issues that we think about and confront everyday. you wrote about it beautifully. HOWEVER, I am just so glad that Beyonce has taken a stand and has ventured out into this forum that I cannot fault her for those issues you bring up. My mother is half danish and is very fair skinned with soft curls. My dad is dark black and can trace his great, great, great grandfather back to the plantations of Florida. I have his hair and skin color. I have felt more hurt from the black community than I have from white people who called me pick-a-ninny. My belief is that we should not spend a to of time on this kind of infighting, instead we should raise our voices for the whole for all of those of African decent who live in this country and experience the hate and racism that continue plague us in this nation. We need Beyonce's voice to join in with all of ours. It makes a difference.
Well said.
Ivy Blue was in the middle of two darker skin girls. People are so focus on color they can't see the meaning . 1.The first girl represents dress of a freed slave. 2. The second girl represents a slave woman in a slip waiting for the white master. The third represents the new dress after slavery.