The rapper tackled a range of subjects in her 'Why I Speak Up For Black Women' piece, including next month's election and the recent backlash she faced over her 'SNL' performance
Megan Thee Stallion has published a powerful new op-ed championing Black women which also sees her address the alleged Tory Lanez shooting incident.
In a piece for The New York Times titled Why I Speak Up For Black Women, Megan opened by observing how Black women have become “a highly courted voting bloc” who are “expected once again to deliver victory for Democratic candidates” in next month’s US election.
“Despite this and despite the way so many have embraced messages about racial justice this year, Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life,” she added.
Without naming Lanez, Megan then addressed the alleged shooting incident which took place back in July. “I was recently the victim of an act of violence by a man,” she wrote. “After a party, I was shot twice as I walked away from him. We were not in a relationship. Truthfully, I was shocked that I ended up in that place.
“My initial silence about what happened was out of fear for myself and my friends. Even as a victim, I have been met with scepticism and judgment. The way people have publicly questioned and debated whether I played a role in my own violent assault proves that my fears about discussing what happened were, unfortunately, warranted.”
Lanez was charged “with assaulting a female friend in the Hollywood Hills” by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office last week over the alleged incident. Lanez responded to the charge by claiming that the “truth will come to the light”.
Megan said that she had undertaken “a lot of self-reflection on that incident” and come to realise “that violence against women is not always connected to being in a relationship. Instead, it happens because too many men treat all women as objects, which helps them to justify inflicting abuse against us when we choose to exercise our own free will”.
Why I Speak Up For Black Women also sees Megan talk about the backlash she faced for her recent Saturday Night Live performance, where she “used the stage… to harshly rebuke Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, for his appalling conduct in denying Breonna Taylor and her family justice”.
“I anticipated some backlash: anyone who follows the lead of Congressman John Lewis, the late civil rights giant, and makes ‘good trouble, necessary trouble,’ runs the risk of being attacked by those comfortable with the status quo,” she wrote.
“But you know what? I’m not afraid of criticism. We live in a country where we have the freedom to criticize elected officials. And it’s ridiculous that some people think the simple phrase ‘Protect Black women’ is controversial. We deserve to be protected as human beings. And we are entitled to our anger about a laundry list of mistreatment and neglect that we suffer.”
Megan also spoke about how people in the hip-hop industry (which she says is a “male-dominated ecosystem [that] can handle only one female rapper at a time”) “have tried to pit me against Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, two incredible entertainers and strong women”.
“I’m not ‘the new’ anyone; we are all unique in our own ways.”
Megan concluded by expressing her wish for young Black girls to be taught about such influential Black women as the NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson and the Black Lives Matter co-founders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.
“Walking the path paved by such legends as Shirley Chisholm, Loretta Lynch, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters and the first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate, Carol Moseley Braun, my hope is that Kamala Harris’s candidacy for vice president will usher in an era where Black women in 2020 are no longer “making history” for achieving things that should have been accomplished decades ago,” Megan added.
“But that will take time, and Black women are not naïve. We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have.”
This week it was reported that Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B’s collaborative track ‘WAP’ will not be submitted for consideration at this year’s Grammys.
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