*Beyonce and her Black Panther-inspired Super Bowl halftime performance has empowered many while infuriating many more. Despite the black pride message behind “Formation,” Bey’s celebration of blackness has frightened the mainstream, so much so that there are those who are planning an “Anti-Beyonce” rally next week in New York City.
“This is football, not Hollywood,” former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani complained about what he believes was Bey’s anti-police performance.
”We should not be promoting gun culture or anti-police sentiments,” said Toronto’s Ward 39 councillor Jim Karygiannis. He suspects Beyonce is connected to the Black Panther Party after Sunday night’s halftime show. Her dancers sported afros and black berets, a nod to the original BBP movement, which formed in Oakland, Calif. in the late 60’s. Folks who have been failed by the public education system believe the Panthers were a hate group. At its core, the movement was all about empowering and enlightening the black collective and resisting government oppression.
At one point during Bey’s performance, the diva and her backup dancers gave a fist salute, and they later formed an X formation – a reference to Malcolm X.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party. Stanley Nelson’s critically-acclaimed documentary, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” airs on PBS next Tuesday, February 16.
“If someone wore bullets and supported (a radical group) here, they would not be welcomed in the United States — that’s for sure,” Karygiannis stated. Though he doesn’t plan to ban Beyonce over her BPP tribute, he calls for the FEDS to investigate her connection to the movement and says if he finds out that she or her team supports them financially, they “could be found not eligible to enter the country as others in the past have faced.”
Meanwhile, Tidal, the streaming service of her husband, Jay Z, reportedly plans to donate $1.5 million to Black Lives Matter.
1970 / 2016 <3 #Istandwithbeyonce WE ARE ALL BEYONCE FORMATION pic.twitter.com/k83c0bTJgH
— Hugo (@hugohoov) February 10, 2016
