Bullshit

Her: I don’t like Beyoncé 

Me: oh yeh? Why not? 

Her: because she bleaches her skin 

Me: well she’s quite light skin to begin with 

Her: bullshit 

Me: and anyway there’s societal pressures for people with dark skin to lighten their skin 

Her: bullshit 

Me: it’s genuinely considered an attractive feature and something companies capitalise on 

Her: bullshit

I will never get over the entitlement of white middle class women to not only assume they know what societal pressures for *women of colour* are like but ignore information when they are given it. 

This is why your feminism is not my feminism and your liberation will never be my liberation. 

One a day

[comments from my colleagues at work]

Monday: “Russia did well in Syria. Yes I agree there is more collateral damage than they let on but the benefits outweigh that.”

Tuesday: “I feel sorry for pedophiles. Watching child porn is the same as watching murder videos online. Would you get arrested for the second? And anyway, watching porn is a victimless crime. It’s their sexual orientation and it’s unfair that we see them as monsters without giving them a chance.” 

Wednesday: “I don’t think the governement have gone far enough with it all [PREVENT]. If it saves even one person’s life then it’s just unfortunate other people are wrongly accused along the way.” 

Thursday: “Rihanna is damaged goods. Well didn’t she get beaten up by Chris Brown. That makes her damaged.” 

Friday: alhamdulillah I can spend the day recovering at home.  

Formation: Beyonce drops it

I have been watching and listening to Beyonce’s new video – Formation – all day. Her politically woke video shows images of her daughter rocking her afro, a wall with “stop shooting us”, her lying on top of a sinking New Orleans police cruiser, a black child dancing in front of riot police and them putting their hands up, a man holding a newspaper called “The Truth” with Martin Luther King Jr. on the front page captioned “more than a dreamer”. Damn.

And that’s just the video. Her words speak about black positivity and send messages of owning and loving blackness.

The Queen has done it again. Slay.

Music has the ability to inspire and empower.  As a non-black person of colour, I cannot sufficiently explain the importance of this message to black people having to survive racism so I will leave others better equipped to comment on this.

But I am excited at the fact that mainstream music is highlighting the problems. Historically – music has been an important tool in political warfare. Joining hands with social media, the potential to connect globally, demonstrate realities and remove the need for mainstream media channels – this once again has people talking about violence at the hands of the state. And that in itself is a powerful thing.

Happy Black History Month.