Beyoncé Country Haters
Destiny’s Child greets fans while promoting their new album “Survivor” May 1, 2001 at Coconuts Music store in New York City. Photo by George De Sota/Newsmakers
So, Queen Bey is catching it once again. This time, from a new group of online haters, who claim she’s delving into an area where Blackfolk are not welcome – country music. One of the loudest critics of Beyoncé’s latest musical offerings is the “actor/singer” (air quotes emphasized) John Schneider who played Bo Duke on “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Schneider, who was born and raised just a stone’s throw away from New York City has the nerve to clown a sister from Texas. Regarding Beyoncé, this simple-minded Duke boy said, “The lefties in the entertainment industry just won’t leave any area alone, right? They just have to seize control over every aspect, don’t they?” Pretty ironic words coming from a colonizer. Then, he took his “god complex” to “a-whole-nutha” level, comparing Mrs. Carter to a dog. “They’ve got to make their mark, just like a dog in a dog walk park,” he added. “You know, every dog has to mark every tree, right?” Schneider, never more than a less-than-average anything, then said it was okay for country artists to make music in other genres, “But people coming in to country music” he had issues with. In other words, he, like many others, claims country music as a whites-only space. I’m not going to run down an entire history lesson, but suffice it to say, there is no country music (or rock) without Black-created music. So, Bo Duke, keep any and all of our names out’cho ignorant mouth.
Eboni Pouncy Travesty
Eboni Pouncy. Screenshot ABC13.
As you’ve probably already heard, Eboni Pouncy (28), a Black woman (and mother of a one-year-old) here in Houston, was shot at 40 times by Harris County deputies. She was hit five times and somehow miraculously survived, but her mobility has been damaged for only God knows how long. And FYI, Pouncy wasn’t running them streets or into anything illegal. She was merely hanging out at a friend’s apartment. Deputies shot that barrage of bullets from outside, through the apartment window. Watching Pouncy recount those events is heart-wrenching. Waiting for anyone to be held accountable is stomach-turning. But the question we as a community must ask is, what are we going to do to put the fear of God into anyone who seeks to harm us?
The Ancestors Are Having a Moment
The ancestors are having a moment, and calling us to respond.
Am I crazy (hush; rhetorical question), or are the ancestors having a moment? In 2018, “Black Panther” brought to the consciousness of many Blackfolk the importance of a connection with our ancestors. Legendary Dagara elder and author Malidoma Some shared in his book “Of Water and the Spirit,” the critical nature of we who are in the land of the living having an ongoing relationship with “those who have gone before.” And it seems more and more folk are waking to this cultural/spiritual imperative. Those who watched Marvel’s series “Echo” saw the power of that ancestral connection on full display, especially in the series finale. And most recently, fans of the series “True Detective,” who watched season four (“True Detective: Night Country”) again saw the power a community can wield when it honors its ancestors. African elders often say when certain stories and themes continuously show up (in TV shows, novels, movies, etc.), that’s Spirit trying to tell us something. The message to Blackfolk: there’s incredible power available to us when we do the work of honoring those who made a way for us.
