Beyoncé's Super Bowl Activism Was Misguided
The greatest threat to young black people isn't the police.
February 09, 2016 | by Marc Debbaudt, ADDA
Celebrities, by the very nature of the attention they attract, have built-in bully pulpits. They most often use them to shed light on honorable causes encompassing everything from disease and world hunger to animal rights and anti-bullying campaigns.
At times, however, their activism is misguided. A case in point is singer Beyoncé Knowles' controversial routine during Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show as detailed by
CBS News.
Specifically, Ms. Knowles paid tribute to the violent
Black Panther Party and Mario Woods, a man recently released from state prison, on parole for armed robbery, who used a knife to slash a random innocent person. As detailed in a piece by
George Hofstetter, President of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the heavily bleeding victim called the police, who tracked Mr. Woods to a nearby street, where he refused to drop the knife, proclaiming to officers, "You better squeeze that ****and kill me." Only when Woods began walking, knife in hand, toward a crowd of bystanders did officers fire their weapons. Additionally, several of
Beyoncé's dancers were pictured on Twitter holding signs that read, "Justice 4 Mario Woods."
The ADDA fully supports political speech and public activism; we practice it ourselves weekly with our
well-read blog. However, if Beyoncé wants to move beyond the cheap and tawdry publicity hit, there is plenty of real ground to be covered.
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Beyoncé's Super Bowl Activism Was Misguided