Okay, But Have You Considered That Actually Fighting White Supremacy Is Really Really Hard, And Calling A Super Bowl Halftime Show ‘Revolutionary’ Is Sooooo Much Easierrrrr?
“A performer in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was detained on the field and could face charges after unfurling a combination Sudanese-Palestinian flag with ‘Sudan’ and ‘Gaza’ written on it.” — AP
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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned should be ringing through this country’s head right now. Because after last night, it’s clear that although Kamala lost the battle, she clearly won the war. Black people are winning, and the right-wing is definitely not.
If you’re not educated, you might ask, what’s the occasion? To that, I reply, brother, after last night, I think it’s safe to say that Kendrick Lamar is a reincarnated Fred Hampton. Or Rosa Parks. Or James Baldwin. Or Thurgood Marshall. Whichever one of them was the revolutionary.
I think Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was the most revolutionary thing that has happened all year.
Yes, I exist.
And to anyone unable to recognize how absolutely jam-packed Kendrick’s performance (dare I say, protest?) was with revolutionary symbolism and messaging, I truly feel sorry for you. So sorry, in fact, that I’ll break down for you just how truly radical the Super Bowl Halftime Show was:
Samuel L. Jackson was dressed up as Uncle Sam, but he was saying racist things. America has a history of racism towards Black people, and this was a commentary on that.
Kendrick brought Serena Williams out and had her crip walk (Crippin is an essential part of Black culture). Not only was this so fucking awesome, but it was also obviously saying, “PROTECT BLACK WOMEN.” (Because Serena Williams is a black woman.)
The dancers were dressed up as the American flag? Do I even have to explain how that’s revolutionary?
He literally did all this IN FRONT OF DONALD TRUMP AND HIS FAMILY. Looking them square in their White Supremacy ass eyes and proclaiming, “They not like us!” I mean, literal chills. This will definitely have a material and political impact on the state of Black people in this country, and Kendrick Lamar is so fucking brave for doing it.
With all this revolutionary activity going on (did I mention that I know what the word revolutionary is?), it’s unfortunate that there was a man last night who tried to interrupt the performance with irrelevant matters.
For those of you who don’t know, while Kendrick was engaged in an intense, lengthy, and passionate battle for the protection of the rights of every Black person in America, some guy ran on to the stage with a (dare I say, planned?) distraction—a Gaza and Sudan flag.
It’s truly unfortunate that while we are fighting so hard for liberation from Donald Trump, some people want to distract from that life-or-death skirmish to talk about something that’s going on halfway across the world.
Okay, I understand some shit is going on over there. Like, some war shit. But thinking about that too much would make me feel bad. And if I feel bad, how am I going to fight for the revolution here? Or wake up early enough to buy pre-sale tickets for Beyoncé’s tour?
It’s especially coincidental that this ambush came in the middle of Serena’s crip walk—such a powerfully defiant act of not only Blackness, but Black Joy.
And this leads me into why I think this masked man’s actions were so egregious. They disrupted Black Joy.
All of our greatest wins were famously won with Black Joy. Look at how happy Martin Luther King Jr. was in every single picture you’ve ever seen of him.
On some days, I feel as if I can almost hear Harriet whispering to me, “It’s okay. You don’t have to do anything today. Just being black is enough. Yes, sweet sugar child, you can unfollow your friend who keeps posting about Palestine. Your mental health matters more.”
It’s not healthy to be so angry all the time. I mean, there’s no “Malcolm X Day” for a reason, am I right?
If you’re constantly so wound up all the time, you’ll never be in a position to help your people out. I think it was Huey P. Newton who said this.
And, so, to the masked man with the flag trying to make me feel all uncomfortable, and cognitively dissonant, I think you should go to jail. Because while I love as much as anyone else to call my minor inconveniences “oppression” and say I’m “freedom-fighting” by being on my phone all day and wearing a shirt with an Angela Davis quote on it to work, don’t you dare come for my cushy, lavish American comforts.
Fighting White Supremacy is really really hard, and genuinely believing that Kendrick Lamar is a revolutionary is just sooooo much easierrrrr.
So please, just let me have it?
was so scared halfway through and then I was like ahhh ok
The sheer number of times my facial expression changed while reading this😂