Janelle Monae took out time to offer her thoughts concerning the recent Megan Thee Stallion shooting during an appearance on Jemele Hill is Unbothered podcast. She was asked to address the issue of seeking accountability for Black women when they are not supported by their own communities.
“I think what I try to do is come from a place of love, but love is not exempt of accountability,” Monae told Jemele Hill.
“Just because you hold somebody accountable,” she continued. “Don’t mean that you don’t love them. That that is the biggest form of love, because that’s saying, ‘Listen, we can be better than that. I want you to be better than that.’
“And I, like you, I’m sick to my stomach around the victim-blaming that that was going on around Meg the Stallion, and she is strong. But she should not have to go through that. She should not have to prove to people who thought that she was lying.”
“Violence under any kind should be condemned. It’s not a gender issue. It needs to be condemned. And I think that when you, when we’re talking about Black women, though, we are disproportionately affected by it.”
“So my thing is to say in the same way that we ask white people to like to abolish systemic racism and oppression, I’m asking those, and this is Black men included, if you are doing this, then I’m not talking to you.”
“But if you benefit from this white patriarchal system in a way that we don’t, I’m asking you to have conversations with more men about how you can be better supported, how you can show up better for Black women and other folks who may not be as privileged as you are in this world.”
Megan Thee Stallion was shot in the foot in July, after partying alongside rapper Tory Lanez. Initial reports claimed the ‘Savage’ rapper had injured herself from broken glass on the floor only for her to reveal that she was shot. She later posted photos of her gunshot wounds after many fans called her out for lying about being shot. Read that full story here.
