On Beyonce and New Orleans/Katrina “exploitation”
Yesterday, I saw a lot of New Orleans-transplants (people who moved to New Orleans post-Katrina) talking about Beyonce’s new video and how she supposedly exploited images of Hurricane Katrina. Honestly, if you weren’t there during Katrina, then you DO NOT get a say in what’s triggering or exploitative when it comes to Hurricane Katrina. Unlike many of you gentrifying hipster fucks, I was there. I almost drowned in the 9th ward in the house I grew up in. My family and I sat at the Convention Center on Tchoupitoulas for days wondering if we would make it out of the city. We left our home, belongings, and memories behind. We left the city without even knowing if the rest of our family had survived or made it out. That kind of trauma stays with you.
While most of the country outside of Louisiana seems to have forgotten that this even happened, Beyonce made a huge statement by highlighting one of the most devastating tragedies that affected a predominantly black population.
Most of the time, you can’t even get politicians in Louisiana to admit that black people are still suffering the effects of Katrina 10 years later. Gentrification is pushing more and more poor black people out of their homes and neighborhoods. Black kids continue to get sub-par education. Healthcare is a joke.
But I’m supposed to be mad at Beyonce, a black woman with roots in Louisiana, for talking about a tragedy that still has effects today? Beyonce is the problem? Beyonce is exploiting my narrative? Exactly how? Don’t worry, I’ll wait…
In the meantime, do not appropriate the Katrina-narrative to try to support your irrational hatred of a successful black woman. Do not use my fucking trauma to support your misogynoir. Especially shut your fucking mouth about Katrina/New Orleans exploitation when many of you WOULD NOT EVEN BE HERE IF YOU WEREN’T ABLE TO EXPLOIT POST-KATRINA HOUSING. MISS ME.
andulkaphoto
tangentwithtanner
origamiaround
izzy806
jbbartram-illu
blakekathryn
