MYLES E. JOHNSON: Black people who do transgressive or radical work must redefine and reimagine what winning is in a white supremacist capitalist culture. The music industry is largely run by white men, and they are the ones who decide which artists, genres and topics should be validated and funded, and which should be erased or othered. Work that gets funding and support is often work that caters to a white audience. If you create a work that does not do so, you are not simply creating a risky product. You are positioning yourself as an opponent to white institutions and business models. If you are a black person who does not try to be palatable for a white audience, but instead focuses on your own culture and experience, this is seen as a transgressive act. If you are a woman who does not try to make work that is appealing to a male audience, this is also seen as a transgressive act.
Being awarded for your art is nice, but when you center radical black female thoughts and aesthetics as Beyoncé did with “Lemonade,” you’re not going to be rewarded by the same system you are subverting. “Lemonade” did not translate black womanhood for a white audience. It told a story about a black woman to other black women, and did not explain these experiences to make others white people more comfortable.
Historically, whiteness does not reward black defiance. Surely we know that a culture that forgot Zora Neale Hurston until Alice Walker returned her to glory in her work wouldn’t reward Beyoncé. American culture has long punished black people who make work that explores black narratives without considering the gaze of a white consumer. Surely we know that a culture that forgot the director Julie Dash (“Daughters of the Dust”) before Beyoncé preserved her imagery in “Lemonade” would not reward Beyoncé. More here.