Solange Knowles (Instagram)
Singer Solange shared a bad concert experience exposing the micro- and macro-aggressions of white supremacy. The singer went to an electronic music show when a white woman demanded she “sit down now” as Solange danced.
Solange posted her story in a series of now-deleted tweets. The singer, her husband Alan Ferguson, their 11-year-old son Julez and his friend Rasheed saw Kraftwerk in concert in Louisiana. Solange said her group was “4 out of maybe 20” Black attendees. The show hosted 1,500 people total.
When the family arrived, Kraftwerk was playing one of the singer’s favorite songs, “Machine.” As they danced, Solange recounts what happened next.
“4 older white women yell to me from behind, [to] ‘Sit down now.’ I tell them I’m dancing at a concert. They yell, ‘you need to sit down now.’ ”
Then, the women threw what Julez later confirmed was a lime at Solange’s back.
Beyoncé’s little sister added Black people don’t “bring the drama” in “many white spaces.”
https://twitter.com/solangeknowles/status/774433738109362178
And after sharing her story she retweeted screenshots of many angry reactions.
https://twitter.com/solangeknowles/status/774481372991877120
The same day, Solange shared an image of Nina Simone explaining the contradictions society has on celebrating Blackness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKKa7leAikZ/?taken-by=saintrecords
On Sept. 11, the star wrote an essay detailing her concert experience and why she took to Twitter to explain what happened in the first place.
“You share this story on Twitter… because you actually want these women to face accountability in some kind of way,” she wrote on her website. “You know that you cannot speak to them without it escalating because they have no respect for you or your son, and this will only end badly for you and feel it’s not worth getting the police involved. So, you are hoping they will hear you this way.”
Solange said she expected the negative reaction to her story but knew many of her followers would understand it.
She went on to recount recent discriminatory events, like Air China’s warning against visiting Black, Indian and Pakistani neighborhoods.
The essay concluded with Solange saying “dancing right in front of them with my hair swinging from left to right” was the “biggest payback you could have ever had.”
Afterward, the singer retweeted several supportive messages from her followers.
https://twitter.com/girlhuntballet/status/775064025772072960
Lisa B. Thompson thanked Solange for exposing the micro and macro aggressions.
thank you for documenting the kind of micro and macro aggressions that we must confront all the time in white spaces.
— Dr. Lisa B. Thompson (@DrLisaBThompson) September 11, 2016
And @ApothicApples deemed the piece “very relatable.”
https://twitter.com/ApothicApples/status/775063828832714752
Meanwhile, Gabrielle Union also tweeted her support.
https://t.co/xDbxVpJFha I can relate to everything @solangeknowles experienced. This is real & it happens everyday. We are not making it up
— Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) September 11, 2016
