Reblogged from leonineantiheroine August 30, 2011 by clownyprincess

leonineantiheroine:

midwestmountainmama:

Underage “Black” Girl Takes Picture of Jay-Z Without Asking (by GabriyahYsrayl)

 i’m of the opinion that violent people can change. It is NOT my job or any other abused person’s job to “encourage” them to change—but i do think that “when you know better you do better.” and if you organize for ways to hold people accountable outside of the prison industrial complex, you have to operate from a much different starting point about “criminals” than you do if you are a supporter of the prison industrial complex (this is *way* too complicated of an opinion to explain in just this small snippet—please see The Revolution Starts at Home anthology (by which I was heavily influenced) for more nuanced thought on this)—which is why I’m trying to complicate my reaction to seeing Jay Z applauded for his actions at the VMA’s rather than immediatly screaming UR ALL RONG!!!! (which is what I *want* to do because of various complicated reasons, including surviving violence).

How do we understand Jay Z’s actions at the VMA’s in the context of this video? How do we understand all of this in context of the hyper awareness of black male violence by white supremacy? How do we understand this in context of Ri Ri—of whom I suspect there is a friendship somewhere (either coming from Eminem whom Jay Z has a close relationship with, or from Bey, of which Jay Z is married) that makes Jay Z’s actions more about *loyalty* to friendship rather than about taking a stand against violence against women? How do we understand all this in context of his relationship with Bey—a woman who has an extremely public record of demanding she be treated right? How do we understand the shifting nature of gender/race when a black man who has been known to uphold a heterosexist and violent representation of masculinity grins like a major doof when his pregnant wife celebrates her pregnancy in front of the world? 

How can any of this be used to teach? And why does it feel like—the complication of Jay Z and these vastly different situations with him (the ugly on his face when he hits the girl is just…ugh) would be minimized to present a 30 second PSA about abuse by well meaning *F*eminists?

What would it mean for anti-violence organizing to keep all the heavy complexities in place—and talk about what it means for a man (of color esp) to shift in his understanding of “masculinity” and what it means for a man to show loyalty to a woman (thereby making a critique of sexist violence even if he didn’t intend to) rather than men? And what does it mean to have made some fucked up choices and not be defined by those choices—even as those who were dealt the brunt of those violent choices ARE (whether through PTSD sort of situation or being defined by her community as a troublemaker or both)?

fuck. him. and the other blokes just watching. this video seems to be from before 2004. no matter.

i will say that not all of us have seen this. so even if you or anyone else wanted to say, UR ALL RONG (which i know that’s not what you’re about) in conjunction with this video—it could simply be ignorance.

i also feel pretty conflicted because once again a black person is going be theorised around—the effects of hypervisibility. i’m tired of this happening to black men in ways that frankly do not happen to other men. and i’m tired of it because it hurts black men as a group. and it especially hurts black women! an effect is the fear to speak out—because it will reinforce the generalisations applied to black men. even though jay-z is male, a celebrity and rich and can therefore escape accountability.

i appreciate your nuance and i trust you—but yeah.

Tags: racism, jay z, chris brown, rihanna, beyonce, sexism, misogny, | Notes: 63