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Beyoncé, Box Braids, and #BlackLivesMatter: What White People Need to Understand About Black Culture

 

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I have a confession to make. It has taken me a long while to come to this conclusion and even more so coming out and stating it, but here it goes: I am white. So what does this mean? This means that I’m never assumed to be a “thug,” I’ll be never shot in the back of the head for walking around at night, and I’m generally considered superior to anyone who has more melanin in their skin. By simply being born caucasian, I have been granted a seemingly irreversible privilege that has followed me all throughout my life. If me stating this happens to offend any of you other white people reading this, you are exactly the problem. Although most of us white people aren’t  downright racists and don’t literally think people of color are inferior to us, we all have institutionalized racism deep down within. We all enjoy our white privilege and secretly don’t want to let it go, and for that reason, we feel threatened by black empowerment. Our race needs to take a step in understanding this injustice happening all around us. In order to dismantle institutionalized racism we have to help our brothers and sisters of color acquire the equality that is morally just by learning and understanding their culture. We can no longer continue this ignorance towards black culture. So first we will discuss what exactly racism is and examples of this animosity in our society. After that, we will take a look at the #BlackLivesMatter movement and how it isn’t threatening our or our police officers’ well-beings. And finally, we’ll plan out how we can begin to bury racism in our society and put it behind us.

 

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, racism is defined as “the belief that some races of people are better than others,” but this only begins to scrape the surface of what racism means in modern application. Racism in America is a system that constantly, continually, and consistently places people of color under white people. This systematic oppression is represented in not only tangible ways such as lower wages and lack of representation but also in intangible ways such as the perception of black people. The intangible can most easily be defined by example: a black man walks into a convenience store with his hood up. The employees of the store immediately take notice and begin following him around to make sure he doesn’t steal anything. The other side: a white man walks into the same store with his hood up. The same employees think nothing of it. This demonization of black men is only one of the multitude of examples. Another branch of racism is cultural appropriation. The most relevant example of this is white people wearing “box braids” or dreadlocks in their hair. While this may seem like a harmless fashion statement, it’s downright disrespectful to black culture. Many black men and women are turned away from jobs and discriminated against for wearing their hair in this natural and easy style, but when white people do this, they are praised and titled “edgy” or “urban.” White people are praised for what black people are discriminated for; that is racism.

 

Due to these forms of racism and recent occurrences, a three word movement has arisen that, for some reason, sends chills down the spine of countless white people: Black Lives Matter. According to their website, the Black Lives Matter movement was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murder. It also states: “Rooted in the experiences of black people in this country who actively resist dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call-to-action and a response to the virulent anti-black racism that permeates our society.” This doesn’t sound bad at all, so why are we so resistant to a black empowerment organization? We feel threatened by black empowerment, and we have responded with the #AllLivesMatter movement. Of course all lives matter, but this movement has no reason other than to derail the black empowerment movement. Just pointing out and advocating that one demographic of people matter doesn’t mean that no one else does. Saying that black lives matter doesn’t mean that other lives don’t matter. I matter. You matter. We all matter. But right now, sadly, we have to remind people that black people matter. Another common issue with Black Lives Matter is that many believe it is anti-cop. Although there has been anger channeled toward police officers because of the recent murders of black citizens, that is not the point. The anger is towards the institutionalized racism within all of us; it’s just being showcased in cops because they have been placed in those situations. Black Lives Matter doesn’t hate cops. It hates police brutality. All in all, the Black Lives Matter movement should not be seen as a negative cause; we need to understand that it’s to progress our society’s mindset.

 

Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime performance and “Formation” music video are just two more examples of how white people are used to tearing down black power. The performance and video both have a very pro-black and #BlackLivesMatter theme to them, but many have attacked the message and Beyoncé herself for what was meant as an empowering message. To dismantle racism, we have to understand that black power does not mean white downfall. The prosperity of both black and white are not mutually exclusive. There are many other ways we can begin to buy racism. Instead of appropriating black culture, we need to appreciate it. Instead of blindly supporting #AllLivesMatter, we need to support #BlackLivesMatter. We have to understand that black culture is not a threat to us. We can help change the world, but we all need to get with the winning team. If we join in the movement to empower members of all races, we will get closer in achieving full and true equality.

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