Dear Beyoncé,
This is not me writing to you as fan. This is me writing to you as a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, a future wife and mother, but most importantly, an African American Woman. I look at you and see many things, a singer, entrepreneur, some one’s idol, and much more. But you know what I don’t see, something that’s so important to so many people in this nation, in this world. A voice. A voice for the people who don’t have pale skin, or “good hair”. Why is that?
As a product of Houston, Texas, why don’t you acknowledge the countless killings and mistreatment of your fellow brothers and sisters? Why do you turn a side eye to something that should be most important to you, as a BLACK woman living in this society? You have an African American husband, don’t you? How much would your world change if he was Eric Garner, strangled lifeless in New York, where you so happen to reside. How much would your world change, if your daughter Blue Ivy, an African American girl, was to be thrown across her classroom by someone who is supposed to protect and serve her? Would you be silent then?, Or would your voice be so loud, the generation 20 decades from now would be able to hear you as clear as day.
Beyoncé, this is not an attack on your character nor is this a bash letter. You have done many acknowledgeable acts for so many people. I mean, look at what you’re doing for those kids in Haiti. I can only imagine how much their lives have changed for the better because you decided to go out of your way and raise funds in honor of their well-being. Their parents most definitely feel like you are heaven sent for making sure their babies get the treatment they need, to live a healthy prosperous life. But what about the babies in your backyard, that can’t eat tonight because mama and daddy just paid rent to keep them from sleeping under a bridge. What about that pregnant woman you rode passed today on 7th street, who won’t be able to give her child healthcare when it’s born. With one call to individuals as blessed as you are, that could change or is it that you care about the people a country away from you more than the ones you breathe the same air with every day.
You sing songs of encouragement, songs that can help anyone get through the toughest days, I can and will attest to that. You’ll speak out about how to stay fit and keep yourself healthy. You even took a stand publicly about Gay marriage. Do you know because so many people look up to you as an idol and someone to be like when they grow up, you influenced thousands of people to support gay rights! Something that not to long ago, was seen as such a disgrace to even come out of some one’s mouth, But because YOU, Beyoncé supported it, they were going to support it to. Forgive me if this comes off as offense, but how dare you? How dare you fly hundreds of miles outside of the United States to do a deed worth recognition but don’t give a second thought into supporting the ones who held you down when you first stepped on the scene.
I challenge you to take a step out of your comfort zone and Put yourself in the shoes of so many mother’s and father’s, wives and husbands, who have lost people dear and near to them, to people who use the uniform as a means of bullying, to people who use their power for evil. Beyoncé, you and so many other well-known African Americans, have a power untapped. With one word, you could make everything in target sell out, use your power to help change the unrecognized brutality of your brothers and sisters. Do you know you are so powerful, that you, YOU!, are connected to the President of the United States of America!!!, Only someone with a purpose, high finance, and most of all power could stand in the same room as him, let alone be recognized as a role model for his daughters! I challenge you to use your power and voice for the better good of the black community. Instead of sending money overseas, create an organization that will help young black girls, that you used to be just like, learn a skill that’ll help them get in to the school of their dream. I challenge to support your local black businesses first and Cartier wrist watches second. Embrace your black community as if we were your family.
Remember those days you would sing in your mama’s hair salon for her clients, who were you surrounded by? Was it the creators of Balmain and Louis Vuitton or was it the black community? I challenge you to teach your daughter about the challenges children who look like her have every day but because her mom and dad are rich and famous, she’ll never have to experience that.
Don’t forget you were once just a young black girl with a dream, don’t forget where you came from Beyoncé, because in a blink of an eye you could be right back where you started.
Wake up Beyoncé, it is time for a change.
It starts with you.
This is not me writing to you as fan. This is me writing to you as a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, a future wife and mother, but most importantly, an African American Woman. I look at you and see many things, a singer, entrepreneur, some one’s idol, and much more. But you know what I don’t see, something that’s so important to so many people in this nation, in this world. A voice. A voice for the people who don’t have pale skin, or “good hair”. Why is that?
As a product of Houston, Texas, why don’t you acknowledge the countless killings and mistreatment of your fellow brothers and sisters? Why do you turn a side eye to something that should be most important to you, as a BLACK woman living in this society? You have an African American husband, don’t you? How much would your world change if he was Eric Garner, strangled lifeless in New York, where you so happen to reside. How much would your world change, if your daughter Blue Ivy, an African American girl, was to be thrown across her classroom by someone who is supposed to protect and serve her? Would you be silent then?, Or would your voice be so loud, the generation 20 decades from now would be able to hear you as clear as day.
Beyoncé, this is not an attack on your character nor is this a bash letter. You have done many acknowledgeable acts for so many people. I mean, look at what you’re doing for those kids in Haiti. I can only imagine how much their lives have changed for the better because you decided to go out of your way and raise funds in honor of their well-being. Their parents most definitely feel like you are heaven sent for making sure their babies get the treatment they need, to live a healthy prosperous life. But what about the babies in your backyard, that can’t eat tonight because mama and daddy just paid rent to keep them from sleeping under a bridge. What about that pregnant woman you rode passed today on 7th street, who won’t be able to give her child healthcare when it’s born. With one call to individuals as blessed as you are, that could change or is it that you care about the people a country away from you more than the ones you breathe the same air with every day.
You sing songs of encouragement, songs that can help anyone get through the toughest days, I can and will attest to that. You’ll speak out about how to stay fit and keep yourself healthy. You even took a stand publicly about Gay marriage. Do you know because so many people look up to you as an idol and someone to be like when they grow up, you influenced thousands of people to support gay rights! Something that not to long ago, was seen as such a disgrace to even come out of some one’s mouth, But because YOU, Beyoncé supported it, they were going to support it to. Forgive me if this comes off as offense, but how dare you? How dare you fly hundreds of miles outside of the United States to do a deed worth recognition but don’t give a second thought into supporting the ones who held you down when you first stepped on the scene.
I challenge you to take a step out of your comfort zone and Put yourself in the shoes of so many mother’s and father’s, wives and husbands, who have lost people dear and near to them, to people who use the uniform as a means of bullying, to people who use their power for evil. Beyoncé, you and so many other well-known African Americans, have a power untapped. With one word, you could make everything in target sell out, use your power to help change the unrecognized brutality of your brothers and sisters. Do you know you are so powerful, that you, YOU!, are connected to the President of the United States of America!!!, Only someone with a purpose, high finance, and most of all power could stand in the same room as him, let alone be recognized as a role model for his daughters! I challenge you to use your power and voice for the better good of the black community. Instead of sending money overseas, create an organization that will help young black girls, that you used to be just like, learn a skill that’ll help them get in to the school of their dream. I challenge to support your local black businesses first and Cartier wrist watches second. Embrace your black community as if we were your family.
Remember those days you would sing in your mama’s hair salon for her clients, who were you surrounded by? Was it the creators of Balmain and Louis Vuitton or was it the black community? I challenge you to teach your daughter about the challenges children who look like her have every day but because her mom and dad are rich and famous, she’ll never have to experience that.
Don’t forget you were once just a young black girl with a dream, don’t forget where you came from Beyoncé, because in a blink of an eye you could be right back where you started.
Wake up Beyoncé, it is time for a change.
It starts with you.
With Love,
Taylor M. Cook
Taylor M. Cook