Beyonce made headlines last week when a number of publications applauded her for becoming the first African-American female singer to cover the September issue of ‘Vogue.’
Now, after the publication came under fire for its alleged referencing of King Kong in their Lebron James cover shoot, the star has been accused of failing to use her time with them to address issues faced by her community.
Details below…
Salon had this to say about the star’s decision not to give the magazine an interview.
When Vogue’s September issue was revealed with Beyoncé on the cover, The New York Times noted her recent politics of silence in a story by Matthew Schneier about the conspicuous absence of a Beyoncé interview to accompany her appearance on the most important fashion cover of the year. Apparently, it’s been about two years since she gave an actual live interview at all. A Yale professor argued that there’s something refreshing and empowering in this inaccessibility, as it points directly to what Schneier calls a “hard-won privilege.” Others have argued that it’s not so much refreshing as it is a terrifying reflection of her image control campaign. In an attempt to explain this silencing, Schneier’s article points out that her last few live interviews didn’t go so well, and so perhaps she has decided to put herself in a position to control the narrative. However, if it’s true that she stopped giving interviews after some of her most self-deifying quotes went viral, then it should be said that, if anything, people took issue with Beyoncé talking about Beyoncé. No one said she shouldn’t try, say, talking about something else.
Suppose, for example, that she’d used this grand moment—as the third black woman to ever cover Vogue’s September issue (and only the 19th to land a solo Vogue cover in the history of the publication) to speak out against the racism that plagues this country—all the way from Ferguson to the halls of Condé Nast. Or suppose she’d used it to bring more awareness to the work she’s been doing with her BeyGOOD foundation in Haiti. I can’t imagine Vogue would have begrudged her time to speak on any of these subjects. Consider the possibilities if she’d taken a few moments to talk briefly about her husband, a product of Marcy Projects in Brooklyn and no stranger to racial profiling and systematic poverty. Would she have swayed the Vogue readers on any of their political ideals or beliefs? Not necessarily. But she would have made a powerful (and empowering, for others) show of solidarity for those longtime fans who are hoping for a bigger, louder voice to emerge from a sea of celebrities posting endless selfies and images of yacht trips, with no public acknowledgement of the Black Lives Matter movement or the issues it’s taken up.
Suppose that, instead of Janelle Monáe, Beyoncé had shouted “Say Her Name: Sandra Bland!” on a track, or released something akin to “Hell you Talmbout”? If she can sing for the President and sing for Pepsi, why can’t we ask that she sing for her people? (We know she grew up listening to many singers, like Aretha Franklin, who did.) Wouldn’t that have been more “empowering” than one more gorgeous, glossy photo spread? Wouldn’t that have been more refreshing than this flaunting of a privileged silence?
Beyoncé is being singled out at the moment because her silence has become a point of fascination, but she’s, obviously, not the only celebrity to remain deafeningly mum on the issues of the Black Lives Matter movement. Many years ago, we had a rapper so bold as to go on national television and declare that the President “doesn’t care about black people.” He, too, is somewhere enjoying the privilege of silence. As many pointed out earlier this year when TIDAL launched, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and many others had no problem gathering on a stage and banding together for the sake of their art (and their paychecks), but there’s been no unified effort to take a stand against some of the biggest issues of our time. It’s true that Beyoncé and Jay Z were said to have donated thousands of dollars to bail out Ferguson protestors. And it’s true that, two years ago, they appeared at a Justice for Trayvon Martin march. But where are they now, when their voices could be even more useful as the movement continues to pick up political and cultural momentum?