When Beyonce dropped her unapologetic, pro-black, music video, “Formation”, I was overwhelmed with pride to be a black woman. When she took it one step further and performed it at Super Bowl 50 Sunday night, in front of 114 million viewers, I was verklempt (look it up, bc there is no other word to describe it). However, members of the National Sheriffs’ Association didn’t feel the same, and turned their backs on Queen Bey while she performed during halftime, calling the song “anti-police”
According to an exclusive interview with The Washington Examiner, the Association said that when Bey hit the stage, the sheriff’s that were in the middle of their annual legislative meeting, turned off the volume and video until she was done performing. The group even went so far as to call on the NFL and suggest less controversial half-time entertainment.
Former mayor Rudy Giuliani was a lot more verbal in his judgement of Beyonce’s performance. “I think it was outrageous,” Giuliani said on Fox News Monday. “The halftime show I thought was ridiculous anyway. I don’t know what the heck it was. A bunch of people bouncing around and all strange things. It was terrible.”
“This is football, not Hollywood, and I thought it was really outrageous that she used it as a platform to attack police officers who are the people who protect her and protect us, and keep us alive,” he said. “And what we should be doing in the African-American community, and all communities, is build up respect for police officers. And focus on the fact that when something does go wrong, okay. We’ll work on that. But the vast majority of police officers risk their lives to keep us safe.”
If you haven’t seen the video yet, you need to. The scene the sheriff’s & Giuliani are likely most upset about is a captivating visual of a young black boy in a hoodie, dancing in front of all white policemen, followed by a shot of the words “Stop Shooting Us” graffittied on a wall.
The boy wasn’t violent, rowdy or “anti-police”, and was actually docile in his performance. So I’d have to politely disagree with the sheriff’s association and everyone else who has overlooked the message she was getting across in the song. The song is not anti-police, but pro-black, which evidently to some are synonymous. And even though I disagree, Im not surprised of their distaste: any extravagant display of pride towards our African American history and culture, has historically been a problem. Belting “I like my negro with Jackson 5 Nostrils” to over 100 million viewers is no different. But kudos to Beyonce for again being one of the few artists that are not only publicly aware, but active in making a change.
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