Dear Beyoncé, Katrina is Not Your Story
Yesterday, a friend of mine watched your new music video “Formation.” He—a card carrying member of the BeyHive—was so excited that the video was set in New Orleans, that he shot me a text: “Watch now! My queen is killing it in your hometown!!!”
So, of course, I clicked. What kind of Beyoncé fan would I be if I didn’t?
You started out the video with a parental advisory for explicit language. And I was like, “Whatever, I’m grown.” Two seconds later, I had to pause the video. I was not grown, I was thirteen again. I had just lost my brother, my home, and my city. I was re-living my trauma.
Beyoncé, what you really needed at the beginning of “Formation” was a trigger warning for all of your fans who survived Hurricane Katrina. None of us were ready to see you crouched down on an NOPD squad car in the middle of a flooded New Orleans, with the voice of deceased New Orleans bounce rapper, Messy Mya narrating the eerie scene.
With that opening image, I was reminded of my “Post-Katrina Stress Disorder,” a condition akin to PTSD that many of us who lived through Katrina (and the aftermath) experience when it’s brought up nonchalantly in conversation. Of course, I told my friend this. He immediately texted me back: “Oh sorry I didn’t mean to trigger, I was just hype about Blue Ivy. You subtly just taught me a lesson in being more sensitive. I was so excited Bey was in your home I didn’t actually think about the way in which it was being portrayed.”
Bey, I hear you trying to unapologetically assert your Southern Blackness when you sing, “My daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana. You mix that Negro with that Creole make a Texas bamma.” I’m here for it. I can support that, even though you do not acknowledge the complicated, and often divisive, nature of colorism inherent in Creole identity politics. But, showing Hurricane Katrina inspired images and inserting yourself into the storm narrative is just as insensitive as using Katrina’s aftermath as a conversation starter when you meet a New Orleanian. Our trauma is not an accessory to put on when you decide to openly claim your Louisiana heritage.
I like what the author wrote. He/she lived it so I cannot fault them for calling this bitch out.
Her fake ass black power antics is just for ratings from those in slumber. She give her bio (it’s hidden and running vertical in the spine of the magazines with her doing lorel ads) as creole and native american and some other ish…not black.
Morning Met :think:
@PP GM..I will never understand how Beyonce, Solange and Kelly all grew up in the same house in Texas and only Beyonce sounds country with that annoying drawl…….If Beyonce was a real BOSS she would have done this song/video immediately following Katrina…(Like I said Kanye is a MAD MAN but he called Bush out immediately) I am a bit shocked that she did the video MNL and I seriously doubt she wrote the song bc most songs she writes are bubblegum pop with catchy repetitive hooks(I bet Solange wrote every lyric and Jay wrote the line about RED Lobster…Tina wrote the line bout hot sauce DWL :ngakak )…the timing (Formation Tour) just makes it look fishy…
Bout she a creole … Critch owl is more like it …wid Di smell bad wig
Lolol…critch owl alright, dwl.
Marie, a think she dyslexic. I’ve been to a few cities in Texas and Austin is bush and I never hear fi her style of dialect. She sound like she stuck in grade 4 :D.
I could give a million phucks bout her riches because that rise and destruction of more than 5 female talents is another curious case of ms hot sause in her bag…rattttchet queen is what she is 😀
God sheltered Jennifer Hudson from the curse of the knowles, selah.
soooooo people not suppose to talk about what happened in new Orleans because they didn’t personally experience it?
Once again folks are channeling their anger towards the wrong sources.
video/lyrics just like that shitty movie name Jamaican mafia…NEGATIVE. The bitch didn’t live it nor did it impact her life as it did those who lived it. This isn’t a “talk about…”.
1) the police car scence is centered just like her
2) har pickney put in contrast to the dark child
That video and lyrics lace with subliminals that isn’t addressing white people alone. 😀
Watch yah, that bitch just being herself. Me nah mek no 1/2 schooled jester call me a bitch, trick or tell me fi bow down a phuck. Me is a warrior bitch and me DNA rig to not accept phuckry.
Mi understand weh di author a come from..people so fake nowadays u don’t know if wah dem do is genuine or not…suh mi tek har song wid a grain a salt too. Marie mi agree wid u bout Kanee and fi him lick out pan Bush him half certified but at times wid a purpose so…but wid Beyonce u never know, I like some of her music but think there is a facade there….
Yep I agree once I seen the video I was like ok here we go with this shit. She talking about her roots n being black but yet she have on a blonde wig. We all know u were not born wid no blonde hair but ok. Talking bout baby wid Afro when last u seen this women with out a perm or colour ok but she’s all for black ppl. Then she come again n have her child wid two dark skin kids beside her. Why because just like the mother her child has to be front n center. Like really some of these people who believe she is god can be fooled but the rest of us wid sense see right threw her foolishness. So yes u have every right to feel how u do.
Just come back…yu spot on! You caught those subs too :maafaganwati
That girl is full of ish. She attempted to mimic rhythm nation, and Micheal Jackson’s military choreographic style at the superbowl.
do you know what paying homage means? what did beyonce do to you personally mek you hate har so? one thing is not to care for her music but it’s like you despise her personally for being born and you knit picking on a simple thing as her blonde hair/wig like wtf. lowe the girl she just contributed millions to the people in flint being poisoned from that nasty ass water, what have you done for your community lately?
Beyonce has a racked up quite a few lawsuits by paying “homage”. The owner of the New Orleans footage has said that she did not properly obtain permission to use the footage but did so anyway.
She once again paid “homage” to choreographer, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, when she used her work in the video Countdown without her permission…lawsuit pending..
You sound like a member of the BEEhive. When she was on stage dripping wet..half naked and dry humping that chair…and Jayz was fully suited up not one ounce of his skin showing…did you think that she was amazing???? yasssssss Bee slayed it!!!!??????…Imagine Two artist of similar caliber yet one is half naked in front of millions. When MTV honoured her Blue Ivy sat and watched her mother gyrate, twerk, imitate stripper pole dancing while poor Blue clapped and cheered…..Didnt know that this is how a queen behaves….wonder when she a go stop sell sex mixed in with a little music?//
Beyonce is to America what Kartel is to Jamaica…they have fvcked up a few generations with their so called talent. She need fi do more than donate money to flint…BEyonce concert tickets cost between 300 to over 3000 depending on the Venue and seats…..who made her rich???????? give back yes and im sure that donation will be a write off.
Undeniable she is one calculating bih!!!entertaining mofo though!
Well if u watch the video and meticulously scrutinize it… Wen she was on the couch she was posing as a creole woman with her fan girls…however they were not fanning her… She was trying to say slthough she is better than them she let them have some pleasure … That part in the video Mek mi really have no respect for her
I think that was a 1900 brothel wid the passer as madame to her dark “tricks”.
PP
‘@chanty she did the same thing with the fan girls
Do some research…I am not a big beyonce fan but she been doing alot of work within the community, she recently build a housing complex for homeless people, she and Jay z was at the trayvon martin protest until people started to accuse her of looking attention so she stopped….I get the author viewpoint but sadly in this world nothing is ever good enough, somebody always have a problem.
Hitler gave the jews free train rides.
As she should….how did she make her multi-millions again? Beyonce concert tickets cost hundreds and thousands of dollars..who you think purchases them???
When very wealthy people make donations do you think that they are always motivated by paying it forward??? or is it just another business transaction?
Yes, and the same Upt red skin people them in Jamaica treat the black Jamaicans like second class citizen in their own country and I don’t see nobody doing shit about it…but black people are so funny, I wonder if a white person had sing a song about the issues in the black community we would be patting them on their back for being pro black?
I agree.That is why so many black people jump ship after making it big.You can never satisfy these people.I am not a fan of hers but anybody who highlights the black man struggle I am a supporter.
SENDER U NEED TO SEND THAT POOR LITTLE STORY OF YOURS TO WORLDSTARR OR ROLLING STONES MAGAZINE,IM SRRY BUT SHE WONT SEE IT HERE*
AND WHY SHOULNDT SHE ADRESS ISSUES THAT AFFECT THE BLACK COMMUNTIY?
SO I SHOULDNT TALK ABOUT THE NFL GAMES BECAUSE I WASNT THERE?
THAT MEANS I SHOULDNT TALK ABOUT SLAVERY BECAUSE I WASNT ON THE SLAVE PLANTATION?
OR I SHOULDNT TALK ABOUT POLITICS IN JAMAICA BECAUSE I LIVE IN SWISS?
LOL U F**KING DUNCE**
I LOVE BEY, LOVE JAY Z,LOVE BLU IVY,
BIG UP ANONYMUS 11.28/NUH BIAS*
AND MI HATE BLODDDCLOT U THE SENDER YUH LUDDY*
LOL THE WRITER SUCKS,U DONT MAKE SENSE, AND MOST OF THE COMMENTS SUCK ALSO..
KATRINA IS NOT YOUR STORY EITHER IT IS ALL OF US STORY**
IF U DONT WANT BEYONCE SEY NOTHING ABOUT KATRINA WELL U SHOULD NOT SAY SHIT ABOUT HER EITHER BECAUSE BEYONCE IS NOT UR F**KING STORY SHE IS JAY Z STORY.
NEXT TUNE BEY IM WAITING I WILL ALSO SEE U ON UR FIRST STOP IN FLORIDA ON UR FORMATION TOUR AS AM HERE FOR A FEW WEEKS*****
A BEY MI SEY A BEY MI SEY…..
A BAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
SHE IS MY IDOL A BEY,,,,A BAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
FOR EVERY 1 HATER BEYONCE GETS 1,000,000 FANS AND 2,000,000 FOLLOWERS*
UR FIGHTING A LOOSING BATTLE,I SUGGEST U GET SO WINE CHILL OUT AND POP A BEYONCE CD IN*********
BIG UP ANONYMUS 4.48,
BIG UP ANONYMUS 10.35
BIG UP ANONYMUS 3.05
ITS SO GOOD FI KNOW SEY A NUH EVERYBODY BIAS AND HATE BEYONCE FOR STANDING UP FOR BLACK PRIDE*
SOME WILL LOVE U SOME WONT,BUT MY LOVE FOR U BEY WILL NEVER CHANGE AND MI NUH CARE WHA NOT EVEN JESUS WAAN SEY***
HAPPY VALENTINES BOOBIE….LOVE U BEY******
A BAYYYYYYYYYYYYY***