While brainstorming a title for an award for an event I was involved in organizing last year, we tired of coming up with eloquent ways to describe an advocate of the program. I added “activist” to our whiteboard. Although words like “ambassador” and even “supporter” were still viable candidates, “activist” was immediately wiped off the board due to its negative connotations. Growing up in a neighborhood a block away from Goldman Sachs and having had to encounter Occupy Wall Street protesters on my evening commute, I was not new to activism and all it entails, positive or otherwise. Although I can see why certain activist groups and protesters might conjure a negative image in certain circles, it seemed unfair to generally characterize a term in that manner, especially since activism is so prominent in our culture.
When Beyoncé performed her new politically-charged single “Formation” at the Super Bowl last Sunday, her act was more than just entertainment. Back-up dancers attired in all black evoked images of the Black Panthers with their stylized berets, black afros and leather ensembles. The robust half-time tribute, which paid homage to the Black Lives Matter movement, Malcolm X, Southern “bama” blackness, Michael Jackson and African-American step dance on the 50th anniversary of the Black Panthers, has garnered substantial criticism. Most notably, former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani stated, “This is football, not Hollywood.” In response to my former mayor, I would like to know what he expects from the most watched television broadcast of all time, which blurred the lines between entertainment and sports when Michael Jackson was the half-time headliner in 1993.
Through her uninhibited performance on Sunday, Beyoncé ventured outside of her carefully concocted public image to give voice to an issue that is immensely personal and sensitive. What is this move met with? Backlash from the National Sheriffs Association for the song’s anti-police message. In fact, Beyoncé’s artistic activism had such a compelling impact that it has spewed a chain of reactionary protests itself. An anti-Beyoncé group hopes to protest outside the NFL’s New York City headquarters on the grounds that her performance glorified a “hate group” and to prevent the Super Bowl from airing any hate speech in the future. This response is a healthy activist process critically responding to Beyoncé’s performance. However, I cannot help but think back to the negative connotation of the word “activist” I grappled with a year ago.
Activism is not solely limited to racial tensions. In the same half-time show as Beyoncé, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin used his coveted stage time to celebrate marriage equality with a rainbow spelling out “Believe in Love.” As the wholesome nature of mainstream entertainment is redefined and hopefully “wholesome” will come to include diversity of opinion and inclusivity. Alongside this, it does us well to reestablish our own terms of activism. Activism is, you guessed, an active word. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an activist is one who advocates or engages in action, specially one who undertakes vigorous political or social campaigning. Since activists inherently have to fight against the status quo to bring about change, it is sometimes necessary for them to take their intended audience outside of their comfort zone. By transforming our idea of mainstream entertainment in the form of the Super Bowl half-time show, Beyoncé seamlessly addressed the largest possible television audience and effectively made many feel very uncomfortable while simultaneously galvanizing the pride of a significant number of people who have been disenfranchised. These polarizing reactions to the half-time show are precisely why there is a need for politically charged performances in the first place. The response to her performance demonstrates the need for a shift to challenge the status quo and people’s comfort zones, which may in turn lead to more uncomfortable conversations.
