A poster of Nicki Minaj twerking has set black people against gay people at a leading law school in the US.
The poster, of two men assuming the position alongside a cut & pasted photo of pop star Nicki Minaj, was posted around the Berkeley Law School campus in California to promote a party organised by The Queer Caucus, a student LGBT group. But another group of students, self-identifying as "concerned black queer/female Berkeley law students and those operating in solidarity with us" has published an open letter accusing the poster's creators of being sexist and racist.
In the letter the group say their grievance is not with "booty pictures" or about "trying to police who can and cannot twerk on a dancefloor". They claim the poster's depiction of white men twerking represents the appropriation of black culture, like the "ironic (white) mainstream abscondence of 'Bling, Bling' from B.G. and the Cash Money Millionaires" and "2012’s sad, racist, mocking, and viral bastardization of the Harlem Shake".
The use of Minaj is also problematic. The four authors argue that the depiction of black people twerking is an example of "White Use and Abuse of the Black Female Body as an Aberrant, Abhorrent, and Amusing Spectacle".
The head of the Queer Caucus apologised on Facebook to anyone "hurt, angered or offended" by his poster of Minaj's bum, and suspended his account over the furore. However his gesture has not appeased Disgusted from Berkeley. They have started a petition demanding "a meaningful apology" from the LGBT group for "disseminating the image" and "failing to adequately respond to the widespread anger and hurt that it caused". It is not known whether they attended the party.
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The poster, of two men assuming the position alongside a cut & pasted photo of pop star Nicki Minaj, was posted around the Berkeley Law School campus in California to promote a party organised by The Queer Caucus, a student LGBT group. But another group of students, self-identifying as "concerned black queer/female Berkeley law students and those operating in solidarity with us" has published an open letter accusing the poster's creators of being sexist and racist.
Please bring a bottle and outrage |
In the letter the group say their grievance is not with "booty pictures" or about "trying to police who can and cannot twerk on a dancefloor". They claim the poster's depiction of white men twerking represents the appropriation of black culture, like the "ironic (white) mainstream abscondence of 'Bling, Bling' from B.G. and the Cash Money Millionaires" and "2012’s sad, racist, mocking, and viral bastardization of the Harlem Shake".
The use of Minaj is also problematic. The four authors argue that the depiction of black people twerking is an example of "White Use and Abuse of the Black Female Body as an Aberrant, Abhorrent, and Amusing Spectacle".
The head of the Queer Caucus apologised on Facebook to anyone "hurt, angered or offended" by his poster of Minaj's bum, and suspended his account over the furore. However his gesture has not appeased Disgusted from Berkeley. They have started a petition demanding "a meaningful apology" from the LGBT group for "disseminating the image" and "failing to adequately respond to the widespread anger and hurt that it caused". It is not known whether they attended the party.
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Are they really saying it's racist when black cultural expressions attain mainstream popularity?
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