Beyoncé brings divisive performance to Halftime Show
Beyoncé, singer extraordinaire, shocked Americans by performing her new song “Formation” during the Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show. Many viewers cheered her on. Yet others were dismayed and angered by her performance. Instances of pop culture are awkward places to embed political agendas, especially those performed during nationally broadcasted events. What political agenda was the song engaged in, you may ask? The answer is: a radicalized version of Black Lives Matter.
According to a Fox News article, this song has been interpreted as one that supports the Black Panther Party, a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization active in the United States from the ’60s to the ’80s. Beyoncé’s performance included the showcasing of controversial, racially-charged symbols.
According to Fox News, Beyoncé and her backup dancers gave a salute, shortly followed by an “X,” representative of Malcolm X. In addition, her dancers were told to style their hair in an afro and to don a beret, which was observed as a reference to the Black Panther Party.
Coldplay opened up the show and performed a few of their songs before Bruno Mars appeared on stage with his accompanying band, the Hooligans, performing “Uptown Funk.” Half way through Mars’ song, Beyoncé appeared with a large army of dancers and sang her song, “Formation.” After her performance, she and her dancers joined Mars on stage to finish “Uptown Funk” in an apparent dance-off. The show ended when Coldplay returned to sing with Beyoncé and Mars.
Just one day prior to the Super Bowl, Beyoncé released her music video for “Formation.” The video begins with Beyoncé sitting on top of a police car that is sinking in a river. Immediately, viewers can assume she is stating that African-Americans should fight against police brutality because their race is more likely to face it. Later on, a young African-American boy is shown dancing. Soon, it is revealed that he is dancing in front of a line up of Caucasian police officers. The boy then is shown holding his arm at wide, like a wingspan; the police then immediately drop their weapons and hold their arms up in a sense of surrender. The music video ends with the police car sinking, as if African-Americans had defeated Caucasian police brutality.
The song suggests that racism against African-Americans had heightened after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. Beyoncé sings, “I twirl on ‘em haters, albino gators.” Because albino means of white color, I believe she is referencing that Caucasian people are, generally speaking, “haters” of African Americans, and that she wants to “defeat” them—and what that word denotes, listeners are left to guess. She repeatedly states that she will “slay,” which, in my opinion, means that she will conquer the racism she feels African-Americans face from Caucasians.
The video is aimed squarely at police officers, but more importantly, the video antagonizes Caucasian police officers. Several stories this past decade have highlighted Caucasian police officers shooting African-American civilians. But a few isolated incidences do not necessarily define a national (or systematic) trend.
According to statistics The Washington Post reported, more Caucasian suspects were involved in cop versus suspect shootings than any other race. The statistics state that 171 men and nine women were Caucasian, 100 men and five women were African American, 54 men and three women were Hispanic, six men were Asian, three men were listed as Other, and 31 men and three women were listed as Unknown. In the face of these statistics, it is difficult to argue that African Americans are disproportionately likely to be shot by cops.
In comparing two of the three performers for the Halftime Show, Beyoncé’s performance gave the image of division, whereas Coldplay’s performance gave the image of inclusion. Beyoncé’s song and performance is about dividing races and showing that African-Americans need to overpower Caucasians; in other words, to fight back against police brutality experienced by African-Americans.
While Beyoncé’s dancers dressed with racially charged symbols, Coldplay were dressed in a variety of colors. At the end of their performance, a rainbow image appeared in the crowd showing the phrase “Believe in Love”. This is an inclusive message, stating that all people should believe love exists, no matter their sexuality. In my mind, this is a far more constructive message for a national audience, and far more appropriate for the Super Bowl.
Zeke Sorenson • Feb 15, 2016 at 10:16 pm
The albino alligators is a reference to the movie that included a police standoff and reference to alligators sacrificing the albino alligator as a distraction. What she is saying in this line is that she is sacrificing her status to start the conversation about race knowing that many would not like her unapologetic approach to the song and that she would be scrutinized for taking on the subject matter. In no way is she saying that white people need to be destroyed.
Colin McIntosh • Feb 15, 2016 at 7:56 pm
So you think that working towards ending homophobia is a good thing and is a perfectly fine political agenda to embed into a pop culture performance with a national audience, but racism should not be worked towards? Believe in love just as long as you don’t believe in racial equality. A message to include gays is inclusive, while a message to include blacks is exclusive? I’m also just not sure what better place there is to have an agenda than a venue with a huge portion of the nation watching.
The statistics listed do not show anything. Are blacks equally likely to die from a cop versus suspect shooting? Are blacks equally likely to be involved in a cop versus suspect shooting? Is a police encounter equally likely to result in shots fired when the suspect is black as when the suspect is white? These statistics answer zero of these questions.
I’m pretty sure the song never says “defeat,” so listeners actually are not left to guess what she means by that.
“The music video ends with the police car sinking, as if African-Americans had defeated Caucasian police brutality.” So you realize that police brutality is still an issue (“as if”)? Do you think that “Caucasian police brutality” should be defeated? If so then I would say this video has a positive message of non-violence.
What part of Beyonce’s performance gave an image of division? Her message seems to be that black lives should be included in the list of lives that matter. The entire Black Lives Matter movement is about inclusivity.
Jonah Raether • Feb 15, 2016 at 7:34 pm
I have a number of issues with this piece; while it seems likely that the author spent time doing research to prove a point of opinion (something she is absolutely entitled to do), it’s unfortunate that the facts do absolutely nothing to assist the arguments being made.
First, it is stated that “it is difficult to argue that African Americans are disproportionately likely to be shot by cops”. While yes, the statistics show that fewer African Americans have been shot by Police officers, the author fails to make note of the fact that African Americans have a significantly smaller population in the United States than Caucasians. A quick look at the US Census data shows that 72.4% of the US population in 2010 was white, while 12.6% was black or African American. If the number of shootings was adjusted to account for percentage of the population that each race holds, it would in fact show that there is a both a national and systematic trend of African Americans being disproportionately gunned down by law enforcement.
Next, the author states that Beyoncé “will conquer the racism she feels African-Americans face from Caucasians.” I struggle to understand why this is a problem. Shouldn’t everyone try to conquer a belief that belittles and degrades an entire population of people? Anyone with even the slightest sense of morals should recognize that racism is a problem in our society and want to work toward ending it. Anybody that is trying to bring attention to the issue on a stage as public as the Super Bowl Halftime show should be applauded rather that criticized.
Finally, I find it humorous that the author cites Fox News, a site that has been known historically to write and present the news in racially insensitive ways, and then proceed to blame Beyoncé for “dividing races”.
It is not Beyoncé’s (or anyone bringing attention to the Black Lives Matter movement) intention to state that African-American’s need to “overpower” caucasians – they are simply asking that African Americans be recognized as equal members of society. Any interpretation of the song, the performance, or the movement as causing division is misinformed and false.