Earlier this week, Piers Morgan decided to wade in with his two cents on Beyonce’s new album, Lemonade. He accused the singer of “playing the race card.” But Jamelia wants him to know something: “There would be no possibility of it being played if we didn’t have it in our hand."
In a piece for the Daily Mail, Morgan whined, "The new Beyoncé wants to be seen as a black woman political activist first and foremost, entertainer and musician second[…] I have to be honest, I preferred the old Beyoncé. The less inflammatory, agitating one. The one who didn’t use grieving mothers to shift records and further fill her already massively enriched purse.
"The one who didn’t play the race card so deliberately and to my mind, unnecessarily. The one who wanted to be judged on her stupendous talent not her skin color, and wanted us all to do the same.”
In an open letter that has since justifiably gone viral, British musician Jamelia has responded beautifully to Morgan. "You are a middle aged, British white man,” she pointed out. “You have no idea, i repeat, NO. IDEA. What it is like to be a Black Woman, and furthermore, the sacrificial, struggle-filled, tongue-biting, mask-wearing fight it is to become a successful one.”
We could continue quoting Jamelia’s letter, but the piece is absolute necessary reading in its entirety. So have a read below.
DEAR PIERS…
I absolutely understand why you didn’t get the Beyoncé album, *newsflash honey*…it wasn’t made for you…and i’m going to need you to be cool with that.
Now, I found quite a few of the comments in your piece to be highly 'inflammatory & agitating'. As a black woman, i am deeply offended by your lack of due care when writing this article, but i would like to take this opportunity to help you out, and assist you in making the whole “Lemonade thing” a little less bitter for you.
You are a middle aged, British white man, you have no idea, i repeat, NO. IDEA. What it is like to be a Black Woman, and furthermore, the sacrificial, struggle-filled, tongue-biting, mask-wearing fight it is to become a successful one.
Let me break this down for you;
Beyoncé’s album is not an attack on anyone, it is a celebration of strength, endurance and potential within black woman-hood. The fact that you are mad/uncomfortable/agitated about it, is evidence enough of how blind you are to the realities of being one.
Beyonce isn’t the only one being unapologetically loud & proud of her blackness, there are many of us (go and type #BlackGirlMagic into instagram/twitter/google), but you didn’t see us or notice the wave. That is why Beyoncé had to do this. On social media, we are celebrating ourselves, in all our glorious forms. We are sporting our – what did you call it? – “Panther-style Afros” (Babe, we’ve had these afro’s growing out of our heads since the beginning of time) not as political statements, but as celebratory beacons for ourselves, and forthcoming generations.
Beyoncé is a mother now, she wasn’t one when you had your little tea party 5 years ago, becoming a mother of a black child changes things. You can be privileged, but along with your own, you begin to become concerned for all the other little black children too. Then you start to think, ‘i don’t like what i have had to go through, and i don’t want my child to face the struggles i have, i want to change things’. Seldom are black women in a position to make statements that reverberate around the world and penetrate the peripheral vision of your Piers Morgan’s. Beyoncé did that. You wrote about it. Now you’re trending, and celebrating that fact – LOL.
Whether or not you feel the involvement of the grieving mothers to be in poor taste, is irrelevant. The brutality & racism being faced by black people daily is what IS relevant…and Beyoncé has you talking about it, i’d say it’s a job well done.
Maybe it’s because i’m a black woman.
A Black woman who cried tears when i read about Trayvon Martin or when i saw those awful videos of Eric Garner & Sandra Bland, and then again each time their murderer’s got away without so much as a slap on the wrist. I get how a privileged middle aged white man from Surrey doesn’t feel that pain, but when I saw Trayvon Martin’s picture I saw my nephew, When I saw Eric Garner, I saw my uncle. When i saw Sandra Bland, I saw my auntie. I get, why you don’t get it.
“The New Beyoncé wants to be seen as a black woman”
This line made me laugh out loud! Beyoncé has always been black, she just did what millions of black people feel the need to do to gain success, she made herblack palatable to you, which is why you’re such a big fan! Same thing Oprah did, and the Obama’s. This is what black people do, along with working twice as hard to get half as much, we dilute ourselves and our culture, so you accept us. I guess some of us have had enough. Being black is not an affliction. No race should be seen as such. Celebrating our heritage should not be seen as a threat. We just want what you have, fairness and equal potential, and if you don’t give it to us…we’ll fight to get it for our children.
Oh, and on the subject of “The Race Card”, there would be no possibility of it being played if we didn’t have it in our hand.
I dont blame you Piers, not at all. I’m sure it’s lovely being you.
But the lemons we have been handed, are those of the Black female, and we refuse to see them as less than, we will use them to make the most wonderful, Lemonade.
