People are up in arms about the racial implication of Miley Cyrus' VMA performance, because of the objectification and "abuse" of the black women who she employed as "props" for her performance.
I found several aspects of the VMAs extremely perturbing. The adopted "Brooklyn Accent", appropriating what they thought was the "gangster" culture of Brooklyn; the irony of the award show being the least black in history [see winner of best hip-hop video], all the while being situated in arguably one of the blackest cities in the United States; and finally, the general lack of organization and planning displayed throughout the award show. It was overall boring, anti-climatic, and I wish I hadn't sacrificed The Newsroom.
Tasteless. if Miley Cyrus' performance could be summed up in one word, it would be "Tasteless". Would I call it "Racist"? Not so much.
So now that we have defined the term, we can refrain from slinging it around to describe every time a white person does something that leaves us disgruntled.
The barrage of backlash Cyrus is merely a culmination of out of context, [perhaps erroneous] insinuations being jumbled together to form logic that is barely coherent. And it pisses me off. Her explicitly stating that she wanted her album to have a "black" sound is being used as a precursor to the harm she inflicted upon black women at the awards [mind you, while she did most of the "twerking", shaming and embarrassing of herself, family and existence]
People are disgruntled because of the endless slut-shaming that has gone on in the wake of her performance, but if we are to speak out against that, perhaps we should take a step back and stop gratifying these overly offended black women that continuously grasp for straws at reasons to once again, play the worn and tattered racial card in instances like these.
Yes, there is a racial implication. Little black girls, after watching Cyrus perform, will no doubt be confused about the image being portrayed of girls like them. Should they oblige and conform to this image? Is this what it means to be a black woman? Issues like these should be brought to Cyrus. The lack of taste displayed during the performance, that should be an issue taken up with Cyrus.
Blacks never like to hear about instances in which they are perpetrators of the same crimes, so I'm sleep. Instances where the likes of Rhianna addressed the implication of her own actions by explicitly saying that, should she venture on a 10 - day excavation tour of the earth's crust, she would still be unable to find any fucks to give about the implication of her actions on youth, all under the premise of her being a "rock star"... but I'm sleep though.
Point of the Story: We should ask ourselves why this is what Miley perceives as "Black Culture", and after we've thought it out, we should then point our fingers at Diplo.
Stop tossing around the word racism. Find another, more appropriate word. The rest of us are honestly becoming sickened. It's become a cliche.
EFB
I found several aspects of the VMAs extremely perturbing. The adopted "Brooklyn Accent", appropriating what they thought was the "gangster" culture of Brooklyn; the irony of the award show being the least black in history [see winner of best hip-hop video], all the while being situated in arguably one of the blackest cities in the United States; and finally, the general lack of organization and planning displayed throughout the award show. It was overall boring, anti-climatic, and I wish I hadn't sacrificed The Newsroom.
Tasteless. if Miley Cyrus' performance could be summed up in one word, it would be "Tasteless". Would I call it "Racist"? Not so much.
Racism : A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. [Merriam-Webster, 2013]
So now that we have defined the term, we can refrain from slinging it around to describe every time a white person does something that leaves us disgruntled.
On Cyrus:
I honestly think that Cyrus merely has a misguided, yet deep admiration for what she perceives as "Black Culture"The barrage of backlash Cyrus is merely a culmination of out of context, [perhaps erroneous] insinuations being jumbled together to form logic that is barely coherent. And it pisses me off. Her explicitly stating that she wanted her album to have a "black" sound is being used as a precursor to the harm she inflicted upon black women at the awards [mind you, while she did most of the "twerking", shaming and embarrassing of herself, family and existence]
People are disgruntled because of the endless slut-shaming that has gone on in the wake of her performance, but if we are to speak out against that, perhaps we should take a step back and stop gratifying these overly offended black women that continuously grasp for straws at reasons to once again, play the worn and tattered racial card in instances like these.
Yes, there is a racial implication. Little black girls, after watching Cyrus perform, will no doubt be confused about the image being portrayed of girls like them. Should they oblige and conform to this image? Is this what it means to be a black woman? Issues like these should be brought to Cyrus. The lack of taste displayed during the performance, that should be an issue taken up with Cyrus.
Blacks never like to hear about instances in which they are perpetrators of the same crimes, so I'm sleep. Instances where the likes of Rhianna addressed the implication of her own actions by explicitly saying that, should she venture on a 10 - day excavation tour of the earth's crust, she would still be unable to find any fucks to give about the implication of her actions on youth, all under the premise of her being a "rock star"... but I'm sleep though.
Point of the Story: We should ask ourselves why this is what Miley perceives as "Black Culture", and after we've thought it out, we should then point our fingers at Diplo.
Stop tossing around the word racism. Find another, more appropriate word. The rest of us are honestly becoming sickened. It's become a cliche.
EFB
It's RIH-ANNA! She's been around for 10 years now and you still misspell her name?
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I don't agree with your point saying that blacks don't like to hear about instances where they are perpetrators of the horrible stereotypes. Countless African-Americans tend to criticize Rih for her uncouth behavior on social media (Read Instagram). However, in real life, she doesn't walk in these streets naked. Case in point, what she was wearing at the VMAs vs what Selena Gomes or Iggy Azaela were wearing that night, or let's take it back to the grammy's where she was merely the classiest of all pop starts in attendance.
Miley Cyrus just needs to acquire some class. it's a shame because her father is actually, a DECENT human being (read country singer).
Well damn, well damn, stan don shook the table... First of all, although she has been around for 10 years, RIH-ANNA is damn near negligible to a lot of people including the blog writer clearly. We just can't be bothered to learn to spell her name *shrugs*.
DeleteNow unto other issues... I think the point of this blog sans the finger pointing is simply "the race card is being overplayed". I think the issue is we (blacks) get a pass for living out stereotypes but once the whites label us by those same stereotypes, it's racist.
For example, walking down GA ave in DC, I see a black man with dreads and a hoodie at night. I instantly go into panic mode (and no I am not racist), it's precaution and I know a lot of people feel that way as well. It might be unfair to stereotype them but to be quite frank, 6 out of 10 crimes committed on GA ave will describe the perpetrator as a black male. Now I am allowed to say this cos I am black but if a white person ever admitted out loud that he put his phone away when he saw said person, it will be a greater deal than if it were me.
Rihanna does not walk the streets naked but she's raunchy as all hell on stage where she is seen more often than on the streets right? Yes she is criticized but what does criticism have to do with the price of Loubs? That's who she is and that's who she has stated she will be. She cannot be classified as classy simply because she occasionally decides to dress properly. Classy is who u are all the time not some of the time. I mean is a prostitute any less of a prostitute when she is not being a prostitute? The fact that miley does it on and off stage speaks for her and her own personal foolish choices.
What we should be focused on as blacks is not unimportant shit like her classiness, it's what she considers black culture. What have we as blacks done to make her conceive this mess as our culture?
You've so eloquently hit the proverbial nail on the head, simultaneously addressing the RIH-anna comment above as well as the Miley issue.
DeleteI wholeheartedly agree. WHY is it that Miley's perception of "Blackness" is limited to "twerking"? What can we do to mend this? Good look on bringing the issue of Tropes in society, also.
So much more I could say but I truly need to escape this office! lol. Thanks for reading, I hope to see you continue to contribute and remain a Constructive* part of the conversation!
Great article! Couple of thoughts below:
ReplyDeletea) I'm a firm believer in Rihanna-ism i.e celebrities do not have any fucking responsibility to parent/exemplify ideal behavior to your child for you. Sure, its *nice* if they do so a la' #Tebow and #BlackJesus but its not mandatory. So any self-image issues that arise for little black girls based on Miley's performance should be addressed by their parents, family support groups e.t.c Besides, why the fuck are "little black girls" watching the VMA's anyway? Like the great Slim Shady said "I just said it..I ain't know if you'd do it or not"(great song btw)
b) From an empirical standpoint, is twerkable/ratchet music currently the dominant form of "black musical culture"? Is it analogous to how gangsta rap was largely the representative musical style of the early 90's to 2000's? Now obviously, there are other musical genres in the black community(jazz, blues e.t.c) as well as more "intellectual" sub-genres within rap. But in my own limited experience(yes even in the Pacific Northwest), none of these are currently as popular with *both* black, white and asian people as the twerkable stuff. I think the problem lies not the perception that twerking/rachet music is currently part of "black musical culture"(I feel it is) but the extrapolation that it forms *all* of black musical culture. It's akin to how whilst recognizing that gang violence is endemic in the inner city. a conscious effort is still needed to avoid the mental trap of assuming that all inner city residents are violent. I think such broad racial generalizations are what we need to fight against instead of striving to exclude allegedly unsavory aspects of black culture. Especially as IMO these "unsavory aspects" are frequently deemed as such in order to have the racial group meet some sort of "talented tenth" ideal.