Black women get in formation, get information

With all the controversy surrounding Beyoncé’s Superbowl performance and her Formation video I feel I need to voice my opinion and some facts on what everyone is saying. First I would like to point out that I loved every minute of her performance at the Superbowl and her video. It gave me so much life and reassured me why I love me some Beyoncé. Not only did the lyrics to Formation speak to me personally but also the video spoke to me so much more that I wonder if I even need the lyrics at all. Wait, what am I saying of course I need the lyrics. This video had white people very confused and had black people saying yasss Bey, yassss you did that girl. She let it be known “I like my baby’s hair with baby hair and afros” which is probably my favorite line because this speaks volumes for colored girls. You don’t have to rock that wig or that weave or straighten your hair because society says you don’t have good hair. Who said? I need to know who said black hair isn’t good hair. To be honest I don’t think white people started that issue but that’s for another time. I felt like Beyoncé was saying I like my daughter’s hair natural it’s a choice and it should be a choice for every girl of color. If I choose to change my hair color, cut it, let it grow, add a weave, it should be a choice. Instead in society it’s more like a requirement. A MUST. I know first hand how society views my natural locs. So thank you Beyoncé thanks for that line. My second favorite part was the Black kid in the Black hoodie dancing in front of the line of White police officers with their hands up. Their hands are up but all he does is dance nothing else. No threats no weapons just dance. It is pro-hope, pro-life, and pro-Black. If you don’t like the metaphor of the line of white police officers here, I suggest you spend some time thinking about why Beyoncé chose it. There is about a hundred things I could point out that made this video the hot tamale that it is but I have a lot of other areas to cover so the last thing I will point out is the infamous line that has all the white people asking is this true “I got hot sauce in my bag. Swag“ Do black people really carry hot sauce in their bag? I feel like I shouldn’t have to answer that but if it helps it doesn’t really get any blacker than that.

One of the biggest issues surrounding Beyoncé’s formation video was the affiliation people felt that it had to the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party formed in 1966 and was a militant and revolutionary groups that fought for the empowerment of the black community and is often associated with its black male leaders. If you are a true fan of Beyoncé you know she has spoken on women’s rights in the past and the important role women play in America. The Formation video and the Superbowl show are examples of a powerful Black woman at the top of her game brilliantly telling Black stories for Black people, brilliantly seizing the narrative and asserting the beauty, power, and truth of a people who have been stringently and deliberately silenced for centuries in this country. Just like the women of the Black Panther Party, they went unknown. It may be surprising to learn that by the early 1970s the Black Panther Party was two-thirds female. As the Black Panther Party grew in size and popularity the FBI declared it would be one of the greatest threats to this country. The bureau killed or incarcerated any male leaders of the party but because they were not aware that two-thirds of the organization was led by women leaving a base for the Panthers agenda to continue. The remaining women panthers turned towards local-level activism providing food, housing, and health care in local black communities. Women were involved on every level in the Black Panther party, such as Audrea Jones, who founded the Boston Chapter of the Black Panther party, Kathleen cleaver who was the press secretary, and Peaches, who fought side by side with Geronimo Pratt in the Southern California Chapter.

The call for Black women to get in formation, get information, and celebrate their power gave me life. Beyoncé said,“I don’t have to prove anything to anyone I only have to follow my heart and concentrate on what I want to say to the world I run my world”. Well, I think the world heard Beyoncé loud and clear and least I sure as hell did. Say it loud “She is a woman, She is black, She is in charge and She is damn sure proud of it”.