Follow this authorKaren Attiah's opinions
FollowAs of this writing, Beyoncé has not spoken publicly about what has been happening in Gaza.
I do enjoy a lot of Beyoncé’s music and cultural output. But I can bop to her while also understanding she is a capitalistic tabula rasa, standing for everything and nothing at once. And when it comes to speaking out about Israel and Gaza, her silence says a lot about the immense cultural power — and structural powerlessness — of Black women.
Black women are often treated as both goddesses and social justice mules. We hear “listen to Black Women,” “vote like Black women.” At the same time, Black women are expected to perform the labor of liberation work for every cause under the sun, while contending with misogynoir, abuse and a lack of support and resources.
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“Black musical traditions may have the potential for radicalism,” Angelica Jade Bastién wrote for Vulture, “but Beyoncé’s neutrality demonstrates they aren’t inherently that way. More than anything, ‘Renaissance’ is a testament that Beyoncé is a brand that stands for absolutely nothing beyond its own greatness.”
I contend that silence in the face of oppression is not neutral. Beyoncé does stand for something: for a particular strain of racial capitalism that is concerned mostly with selling the aesthetics of Black liberation for mass consumption. There’s a lot of money to be made in satisfying White mainstream fantasies of “safe” liberation, even if — perhaps especially if — those fantasies defang movements for actual freedom and justice and preserve the status quo.
The facets of this liberal fantasy include “Black First-ism,” or being tapped by White-owned brands to be the first Black person to do a thing. This was played up when Beyoncé was the first Black woman to headline Coachella and when she was featured by Tiffany as the first Black woman to wear its famed yellow diamond, a rock sourced during the bloody era of British colonialism in South Africa.
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The liberal fantasy of progress requires performances that borrow from the aesthetics of Black and LGBTQ liberation. This allows Black people to make millions off organizations with a history of anti-Blackness, such as the National Football League, or from colonial entities such as Tiffany. In the case of Beyoncé, it allows her to quote Malcolm X on Black American women’s dehumanization, while saying absolutely nothing about the terrifying dehumanization of Palestinians. It allows her to make a song titled “America Has A Problem,” yet say nothing about the role of the United States in bombing Palestinians to bits.
It’s not as though Black celebrities haven’t spoken out. Beyoncé’s sister Solange posted “Free Palestine” to Instagram, and R&B singer Amerie has been vocal about Palestinian freedom on the platform. Singer the Weeknd announced he was providing 4 million emergency meals to Gazans. Rapper Redveil called for a cease-fire at........