Ethan Cha

Yonamine/Rodgers
Senior Inquiry
22nd February 2016
Janya Khan on Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar
In the article If Youre Dissing the Sisters You Ain't Fighting the Power: by Janya Khan,
she talks about two major forms of oppression, racism and sexism. IEREs definition of racism
revolves around white racial/cultural prejudice, the institutional power of one group, and the
advantage whites gain from disadvantaging people of color. She is claiming that Beyonce is
receiving more backlash from the media mainly because she is a black, and also because she
is a woman. I feel that because Beyonce is a black woman and is in multiple minoritized groups,
it makes it easier for people to criticize her. For example, if we look at Kendrick Lamar, an artist
who is very well known and is very well respected by many groups of people, he has received
little to no backlash on his performance. On the other hand, we have Beyonce, who is a black
woman, who was thought of being white (in a sense of her music). In my opinion, I feel that
Beyonce was respected more in a group of women, rather than men. So it leaves room open for
men to make discriminatory comments about Beyonce.
I think this article has a little more to do with sexism and intersectionality rather than
racism. Though racism is a key point in this article, I believe that sexism is a bigger factor that is
in play here. Obviously Beyonce has received a large amount of backlash from the media, for
example, Fox News. Fox news is mostly ran by white men, that is an institutionalized power that
can broadcast almost to everyone in America. They inflict their own opinions/beliefs on the
common people, thus furthering backlash to Beyonces performance.
Overall, I agree with the claims Khan is making. She is clearly pointing out the fact that
Beyonce is receiving more criticism for her actions based on the fact that she is a black woman.
Its not really about how she presented it, but because she presented it as someone being part

of multiple minority groups, thats why she was criticised so harshly not only by the white
community, but the black community as well. In my own thoughts, Im quite skeptical on the fact
that only white people can be racist, but perhaps with more time taken on this chapter to review
and reflect, I will understand why only whites can be racist. I often refer to this quote when
thinking about social justice, If you are advocating for your minoritized group while
demoralizing another, you do not want equality. You want privilege.