We must support women of colour

Shelina Janmohamed defends Beyonce and other women who have a presence in the public space

Singer Beyonce has been criticised for taking a political stance. Chris Graythen / Getty Images /AFP

When Dawn Butler, an MP, was rushing to attend a vote in the British Parliament, she was stopped inside the building and challenged about why she was there. When she was in a lift for members of parliament, one colleague told her that the lift was “not for cleaners”.

There was a clear – and absolutely shocking – reason for his assumption: Ms Butler is a black woman. And women of colour are not expected to be politicians.

On another occasion, when she sat in an MP-only area, she was told to move. When she clarified her status, the offending MP muttered: “They are letting anyone in now.”

Women of colour are supposed to be pleasing, not political. They should clean, cook and entertain. But woe betide any woman of colour who dares to assert her identity on her own terms or take a public or politically active role. Then she will be attacked with an unreserved level of vitriol, told to stop being so uppity and pushed back into her place.

Beyoncé has just released a new album, Lemonade. It builds on her growing embrace of political ideas. She has introduced feminism into her work. At her Superbowl performance in February she made references to police brutality against black people. And in Lemonade she introduces the mothers of two black men killed by police, among other assertions of her growing sense of a political black identity.

Music has always been a format to make social commentary. Since Beyoncé is an artist, it is only natural that she uses her own medium to express her engagement with the world.

But she has inflamed the white male status quo. Piers Morgan, once the editor of the British tabloid the Daily Mirror and now co-host of a breakfast television programme, said: "I have to be honest, I preferred the old Beyoncé. The less inflammatory, agitating one." Again, the view was that women of colour should be pleasing, not political.

And what’s worse is that he heads off the accusation that women of colour should use all means – artistic, cultural or political – to explore and attack their oppression. He says that he preferred Beyoncé when she was “the one who didn’t play the race card so deliberately and to my mind, unnecessarily”. Of course he did.

To characterise the expression of women of colour that they continue to suffer as “playing the race card” are words that can only be uttered by a white man of privilege who holds all the cards of power and wants to give none of them away. Any form of protest is just reduced to the stereo­type of “angry black woman”.

Also in the past week, the UK’s National Union of Students elected its first ever woman of colour as president. Instead of celebrating this achievement, the week has seen a barrage of attacks on her.

Even Michelle Obama has spoken passionately about the racism she has faced. And she was told to quit whining. Because as long as we are talking about her dress sense and her well-toned upper arms, she’s allowed a space in public discourse. But if she makes a public stand, she must be shut down.

Women in general face more scrutiny in the public space. But the way women of colour are shut down is truly excruciating, and the women’s movement as a whole needs to come out and be vociferous in response. It’s not a choice, it’s a matter of solidarity.

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and blogs at www.spirit21.co.uk