Don’t Be Mad At Beyonce If People Want To Kiss Her Ass
When news broke yesterday that Beyonce Knowles was selected to receive a journalism award for her Essence feature story, “Eat, Play, Love,” by the New York Association of Black Journalists, I was stunned – to put it mildly.
In fact, my initial response on Facebook was:
“Wow…Beyonce is winning journalism awards now? I quit.”
Followed swiftly by:
“I think I’ve been going about this journalism thing all wrong. I should get some blonde extensions, learn how to make it clap while saying “uh-oh” and talk about the simple things in life like jumping off of yachts.
That’s the ticket.
*Shreds all rough drafts of articles that empower the Black community and puts on leotard.”
Stunned, I said…to put it mildly.
It’s not that Queen Bey makes a living gyrating and writhing around the globe, nor even that I would stand before a jury and sweet, fictitious 8-pound baby Jesus and claim beyond a reasonable doubt that she hired a ghostwriter. (Shout-out to the ghostwriter; you did your thing!)
No, I’m stunned because the NYABJ proved with that one insulting decision that they are willing to kiss Beyonce’s ass at the expense of hard-working journalists everywhere.
There is no way in the hell that they can convince anyone that not one, single, solitary article in the “arts and entertainment” category was more “artistic” and “entertaining” than a diary about discovering a love for artichokes and learning to appreciate the little things.
“We don’t believe you, you need more people,” as Beyonce’s husband would say.
In addition to Beyonce, a Lifetime Achievement award is being presented to Robert Naylor, a thirty-year vet who chaired the Associated Press Diversity Council and a founding member of the LGBT Task Force. Tribute will also be paid to late journalism pioneer Gil Noble, host of “Like It Is” since 1967 — not to mention the dozens of other journos who do this for little to no pay and even less recognition day-in and day-out.
That’s some pretty impressive company for the “Bootylicious” penstress to be in and there is no way that she can believe she deserves it.
But, here’s the catch.
It’s not her fault. There is no need to criticize Beyonce for the actions of what should be a legitimate journalism organization. She’s just walking around in her Louboutins, yacht jumping, breastfeeding, flashing her smile, flipping her hair and shaking her ass for her adoring public. In other words, she’s never ventured too far from her lane; unless you count “Dreamgirls” and the other movie that I only remember because of Idris Elba with his fine self, but that’s another article.
In the last 24 hours, I’ve seen vicious comments about her lack of education and pesky plagiarism issues. And while they’re at it, horribly petty people decided to speculate again if she bleaches her skin and why her hair gets blonder and blonder, and if she gave birth to Blue Ivy – better yet, is she’s carrying around some sort of fake baby to throw people off the trail?
I never use this term, so forgive me in advance:
But this is a definite case of people “hating” on Beyonce.
At the end of the day — whether you like her, love her or hate her — she’s still another Black woman (well African-American, Native-American and French woman according to her L’ Oreal ad, but you get my point) doing her thing and doing it well. If you’re mad, write the NYABJ – they’re the ones who placed celebrity over substance. Beyonce is a mother, wife, singer, actress and business woman. What she is not, is a journalist. She also didn’t ask for the award. Educated Black people always preach, scold and berate our young people for placing “stars” on a pedestal, but apparently when the scholarly among us do it, it’s entirely justified.
“This is just one award,” said Michael Feeney, the president of the New York chapter of the Black journalists association. “I know a lot of people are upset but we are honoring a lot of outstanding journalists on that night. Beyoncé is a role model. I hope this honor will inspire other girls to pursue a career in journalism.”
No, Mr. Feeney, it may possibly inspire other young girls to pursue a glamorous entertainment career so that that they too can have accolades such as a “Most Beautiful Woman in the World” thrown at them (as if there is such a thing) — and “journalism” awards for articles about a vacation. What it will not do is encourage any scholarly pursuit whatsoever. Let’s be real.
But then again – since the NYAJB has garnered more media exposure over this decision than, well, ever – maybe encouraging young people was never really the point…was it?
As a freelance journalist and someone with a degree in journalism. I do understand the upset by some of my fellow writers. But agree that the anger is definitely toward NABJ of NY and not Beyonce.
There were far more talented journalists that wrote great introspective and travel pieces in 2011. (I not being one of them, as I do not often write features or travel articles)
I am disappointed with NABJ for their choice, especially because this once contradicts so much of the propaganda they promote about the integrity and skill taken to be in this field. Awarding a degree for popularity sake, does not promote to young women that journalism is a field that they should seek to thrive in.
As a fan (not a stan) of Beyonce and one that feels slated for her, when she does not get the recognition that she is due on occasion. My heart goes out, to those wonderful overlooked and talented writers as well.
.
I think that everyone is missing the point here. Beyonce is not to blame, the National Association of Black Journalists is.
I am a former member of the NABJ and their youth arm Young Black Journalists (YBJ) and both organizations are a BIG JOKE!
NABJ has become an attention whoring organization that can’t hang on to its own relevance. Instead of mentoring its young members, or building a substantial counter organization to the white mainstream press, they send PRESS RELEASES out to WHINE every time a major news outlet cuts a black employee. As a member, the ONLY CALLS I ever got from them were a.) to register for their OVER PRICED conferences (I did attend one, and left hundreds of dollars poorer with NO new connections or mentors) or b.) about their stupid internal elections.
Them awarding Beyonce is nothing but a ploy for attention. I’m guessing that Essence submitted the article to NABJ for review during awards season, and they selected it because it would make a great headline, make them seem relevant and get them some attention.
I worked for an all-black newspaper a year or so before the economy started to tank and I remember all the NABJ members who worked at mainstream publications (most of them did/do) turning their noses up at us, because they didn’t consider us a “real” news outlet. These were NABJ members who were working at ESPN, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, etc, etc. When the recession happened and the journalism industry had MASSIVE (I mean, like, 50% of the work force) layoffs, [self-important] journalists or color at major publications were the FIRST to be let go.
These same mess-talking NABJ members came back to our little all-black newspaper hat-in-hand and foot-in-mouth trying to get a job. SMH.
So, please, don’t pull Beyonce into this. I know for a fact that she couldn’t have been the one to submit her piece to NABJ (publications have to submit on behalf of individuals) and I doubt she even knew that it had been submitted for consideration.
This is just NABJ being NABJ. SMH.
Thank you LN!! I mean, I did not want to be the one to say it, but the organization is not really one that carries a lot of weight. Not to discredit it or anything.
Wow. You just educated me. I majored in journalism undergrad at FAMU, so I was familiar with NABJ but have since pursued a career as a historian so I never really had a real experience in the professional world of Black journalists. You should reeeaaaallly consider forwarding this to folks in your field who may listen or even as a catalyst for a new crew to organize and launch another association. These kinds of issues plague many of our organizations and perhaps the dialogue you are sparking (and the leadership I sense from your words) can be the beginning of some much needed change. Thanks. You got me thinking…
WAAAAIIIITTT…I just realized, we were talking about two different organizations. The one in the article and the one I was talking about is NYABJ (New York Association of Black Journalists). You are talking about the Nat’l Assoc. of Black Journalists. But some of these organizations may be plagued by similar issues unfortunately, which does raise a lot of interesting and necessary discussion as KB points out. Sometimes Black news outlets do not have the support that they need for a variety of reasons and it would be ultimately useful.
@girlformerlyknownasgrace @KB Thanks for the feedback ladies!
I checked on their site, and NYABJ is the New York branch of NABJ: http://www.nyabj.org/about/, so it is the same organization.
I entered the journalism industry 6 years ago, fresh out of college and very naive. By the time I left newspaper reporting about 5 years later, I was very disillusioned with the way black journalists treat each other in the industry.
I remember going to the UNITY conference in 2008 which, back then, was primarily coordinated by NABJ and spotting one of my heroes, Alison Keyes, a black journalist who has reported for NPR for close to 20 years. I shyly went up to her to ask her advice about making it in journalism and, in front of a group of other established black journalists, she looked at me and said, “That’s not what I’m here for.” and then turned her back to me and kept talking. Oh, and she was talking to these other journalists about how was having sex with her “conference boy toy” who was 20 years younger than here. They were all laughing. I was horrified.
The NABJ “conferences” are basically a big frat party for established journalist. There is little to no emphasis on building young talent. I joined my local chapter of NABJ (Chicago) and signed up for the mentoring program. I was assigned a mentor who wrote for the Chicago Tribune and their sister publication RedEye. He didn’t attempt to meet with me ONCE. All he did was say hi to me when I attended chapter meetings.
After 4 years of foolishness I left the organization and journalism altogether. The thing is that competition for jobs at “top” publications — like the Trib, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, etc — is VERY fierce. And the black people who manage to get into those positions, more often than not, aren’t trying to help other black people get there too. They see it as a threat to their spot. So mentorship is not a priority AT ALL.
I could pull out a ton more NABJ horror stories. Like the time I went to a mixer in downtown Chicago and a guy who was starting a news website said he’s give me a job if I went out on a “date” (basically sleep) with him.
That’s why it’s so pathetic now that all they do is whine and attention whore.
Oops… in my passion I got my timeline wrong, lol. I entered journalism right out of college 6 years ago, and left the industry 4 years after entering.
Also KD I totally agree that there needs to be a discussion. Where and how, I’m not sure. But it certainly needs to be had!
Oh, thanks for the clarification :)
I think what kind of grinded my gears with journalism was the fact that news on African-Americans and Blacks of the Diaspora were often portrayed in mainstream media. I thought that writing for an African newspaper would shed light on the difference but I realized that they were part of the problem! The same negative stories about themselves–bombings, raids, corrupt generals. And then Western media picks up on these stories. I feel like the problems with reporting on Black issues is systematic and pervasive. And it left me feeling defeated.
@LN Thank you! Someone tells it like it is about NABJ! I was in my university’s chapter and they were the most laziest, snobbish, and unhelpful group of folks ever, so I feel ya on that! I left after two foolish years of doing practically nothing. I made zero contacts, there wasn’t any mentoring of any kind or all the other things the group promises to do…like you said, they don’t emphasize or help upcoming young talent at all, and that shocked me. All they did was whine about how hard it is for Black journalists and about gathering “the building fund” money for that expensive as hell conference. NABJ didn’t stop me from continuing in journalism, it just made me aware that sometimes you can’t rely on ‘your people’ that they will knock and not care about your hustle too, and I hate to say it that Black folks—we have it bad when it comes to that. I did MUCH better when I got involved in the university paper and with projects my professors swayed my way, but NABJ is quite a joke. I thought it was just me or my university’s chapter, but I see it’s a wider issue…glad I’m not alone in my thoughts! Even though I’m not a fan of Bey, I’m not blaming her for this bull shiggity.
I’m with @KB … a new organization needs to be made or something, it would be nice to have something that would actually help young Black journalists instead of making them feel excluded and unimportant like this award show definitely is.
LN turning their noses up at us, because they didn’t consider us a “real” news outlet.
That’s a darn shame how some of us frown our noses up at our own. It shouldn’t matter how small it is, it belongs to us. If it weren’t for small blk papers, the Tavon Martin case would not have come so far.
Well you know how some of our folks are, the other man’s ice is always colder.
Kirsten West Savali get a life , and you need to take several seat back , hate the game nio the player . it’s sad to see black women alwasy going at each other instead of supporting each other.. What a waste
i understand where the writer is coming from. you know how when you’re working towards something really hard, and then someone with less talent comes along and take it just because of who they are, or who they are related to,what they look like or just pure luck? kinda what authors/future authors felt about stephanie meyer, how talented people trying to make it feel about kim kardashian, or how you could feel about nepotism in a company or any line of work.
we all have encountered at least once
Couldn’t care less about Beyonce either way but then again, I’m not a journalist….