By Walter L. Hilliard III –
Why is it that Black people can accommodate any other group or belief but the belief in Blackness or Black Unity? It’s probably because Blackness often causes fear in the minds and hearts of the White mainstream. In fact, many even laugh about two Blacks talking at the water fountain appearing to be a gang meeting to White folks, but there’s more truth to it than not – and that’s sad.
Yes, Blackness can be scary to many.
I recall watching the great writer Ishmael Reed mentioning how he’d frequently go to a local diner in California – a diner where he was usually the only Black person there but everyone there was very nice to him. However, he made the mistake of once taking a Black friend who was visiting him to the diner and he couldn’t believe how horribly the White employees and patrons treated him because he showed up with another Black person. It’s like the old true story of how one Black person moving into a White neighborhood may be okay, but as soon as two or three Black families move in, “For Sale” signs start going up in the yards of White homeowners.
I would also add that whether it’s P. Diddy yapping about “Vote or Die” for the DemoRats or Black NBA players in “NBA Care’s” commercials happily posing with non-Black kids (if any Black kids appear in these commercials, they’re tossed in as tokens or afterthoughts), Blackness is almost always exploited to benefit the oppressor but nothing can be “too Black.” It’s too dangerous.
So I recently came across a radio station interview featuring quirky singer Janelle Monae. During the interview a salivating Black female radio host, who was acting like a teenaged groupie, eagerly asked Monae about her sexuality, or whether she preferred to date men or women? Monae responded that she didn’t want to say which gender she dated because she didn’t want to lose fans. She also mentioned that “It’s All About Love,” as if it doesn’t matter who you sleep with.
But what does “love” have to do with it, really? Didn’t some slavemasters LOVE their slaves? And for 400 years haven’t there always been White women who intentionally avoided Black men because they were racist and socialized to fear Black men, much less sleep with them or fall in LOVE? So love does not run the world when racism is so prevalent. And Monae’s love for her fans should not override the need for her to simply tell THE TRUTH. Think about it, what has the world come to when you cannot even say that you’re heterosexual (over 90 percent of population), or that you as a Black woman can’t even say you love a Black man? Not to mention that over 90 percent of the population is heterosexual?
Monae’s behavior indicates she actually isn’t as unique, independent, and authentic as she professes to be because the only reason she’s avoiding telling the truth, that she’s “straight,” is because mainstream America and/or the media has socially engineered young people to believe that gayness is a hot marketing tool. I also figure gay rights “supa sava” hoe President Barack Obama, who appears in pictures with Monae posted on her Instagram, has been an influence on her? Funny thing is that Monae appears to have chosen the gay community’s desires over the Black community’s needs (to see proud Black heterosexual role models) — just like Obama has always done.
And how do we know that Monae is straight (or was straight not too long ago, and it’s highly unlikely she’s changed her mind)? Well, let’s start at the beginning, sort of, or go back in recent times and consider why anyone would even question her sexuality in the first place: In the song “Q.U.E.E.N.” featuring Erykah Badu, Monae sings, “Am I a freak because I love watching Mary?” And in another song, “Givin Em What They Love,” she refers to a woman following her to a lobby for some “undercover love.”
So Monae, at some point, started catering to a lesbian audience she discovered, in all likelihood, because she often dresses in men’s suits or uniforms and her hair is usually styled in a masculine way; thus, she is likely catering to her lesbian following for profit’s sake.
However, most importantly, a couple of years ago Monae indicated she was very straight but has since stopped saying so. In 2010, Monae told Rolling Stone, speaking honestly about her sexuality: “The lesbian community has tried to claim me, but I only date androids” (android means “manlike,” deriving from a Greek word); however, she now simply refuses to even discuss which gender or who she dates because, I believe, it’s not economically expedient and the gay community assumes that anyone who says they’re not gay is homophobic, homophobia being a fake concept used to avoid any real intellectual opposition to homosexuality or the behavior – which is often caused by sexual or some other type of abuse.
The problem is that everyone understands this but Black people, which is the very reason why Europeans and Asians were allowed to invade Africa, and the socio-economic invasion and exploitation continues to this very day. You see we, Black people, are a spiritual, loving people that cannot unify because we love everyone and every “thing” but our own Black selves. And Janelle Monae’s love is for fame and money – selfish reasons above the well being of the African World Village.
Maybe I’m missing something but isn’t swag all about being you and being cool? Isn’t true love all about honesty or “keepin’ it real”?
Yes, it’s clear that Monae really isn’t any more REAL than the rest of our bougie Black athletes and entertainers.
