by
Black Girl With Long Hair
To be clear, both of these photos were taken before Jesse Williams’ powerful BET Awards speech. But they have resurfaced as discussion swirls about what role high-profile black men should take in advocating for black women. The first was taken just a few weeks ago, when Drake was vacationing in the Dominican Republic. The shirt says, “The hardest job in America is being a black woman.”
The second is from early 2014. The “I Met God, She’s Black” t-shirts were trending at that time, and some white celebrities sported them also.
The internet is divided on the significance of these gestures. On the popular gossip site, LipstickAlley, (where we first came across these images) commenters were torn on the significance of a world famous rapper sporting shirts like these.
Drake’s more recent dating history (Serena Williams, Rihanna) seems to suggest that he is attracted to or, at the very least, not intimidated by powerful black women. He alluded to this in his 2015 song Digital Dash;
“Just walked in with a girl that’s making triple what I’m making, what an entrance.”
That line could be about Williams, Rihanna or his long-time unrequited crush, Nicki Minaj.
But I don’t know many who would go so far to say that Drake is an advocate for black women’s issues, especially given that he is in a genre that repeatedly and mercilessly denigrates them.
Ladies, what do you think?
13 Responses
He’s not an advocate. He’s more a “consumer,” I guess is the word? Drake “loves” him some black women if you consider the number of them he’s photographed with in any given month. But he doesn’t have to respect us to sleep with us. I definitely don’t see him speaking out against issues that affect us.
Though I guess he spends enough at the strip clubs to keep a lot of women in school and with a roof over their heads.
“his long-time unrequited crush, Nicki Minaj” That line cracked me up for some reason.
The “I met God, She’s Black” is not appealing to me even as a black female. I wouldn’t equate us to being God. We’re still all are imperfect humans, and just because black women have had a huge struggle for thousands of years but deserve to be treated like queens doesn’t automatically make us equal to God. Black women, women, humans in general still lie, cheat, steal, hurt others, kill others, misuse or hurt our own bodies etc. If we are gods and the creators of the human race because we began in Africa and have the ability to give birth then why do we still do these horrible things? God only allows humans to do these things for a limited time, but he didn’t create us to do these things. Also, God is a spirit with no gender or appearance, anyway. We as believers just refer to him as Him to make easier for us, again, as imperfect humans who can never come close to his perfection. If the words were changed up to any other way more people would be equally offended but we all know Hollyweird is pro-gnostic, anti-God/religious beliefs
Couldn’t agree with you more. We make terrible gods lol I wouldn’t want anyone to idolize me because of the color of my skin. Respect and idolization are two different things
Yass props to you drake. However I’m sadden that he was on vaccation in the dominican republic.
Everyone please boycott the dominican republic as they are extremely racist, anti-black and anti haitian. They mistreat, rape, kill, hang, and have now deported the dominicans of haitian decent. They have attempted ethnic cleansing against haitians in past as well. Please support haiti instead. Boycott the DR because black lives matter
Yes, I’m not happy about this. Sounds like the DR government want to whitewash their population.
Alot of dominicans are decendants of slaves… alot of them are actually black
Does that erase their internalized racism and anti blackness? Does that erase the ethnic cleansing and systemic racism against their population of haitian decent? Does that erase their denial of their own blackness? Many of them dont even identufy as black so what exactly is your point? …
Right. A lot of them refuse to admit their African roots. And let’s not even go in on things like the Parsley Massacre.
I honestly love Drake. I have been a supporter since I was 12 watching Degrassi. Although, Drake definitely isn’t doing as much as he could (i.e. Jesse Williams) I still think he supports Black women.
Drake has loved black women for the longest.. Years ago, he was eyeing Tika Sumpter for some time and asked her out on a date and she accepted. Nowadays it seems like light skinned/ mixed black men are the ones who will proudly and publicly announce their love and appreciation for black women.
I’m not an American national but have visited many times and have lots of family who live there. My experience with the US brothers has been a very positive one indeed, All my relatives have meaningful relationships with black partners unlike most in England and seem to be very supportive of one another. Just because 1 light skin man has made this powerful speech doesn’t mean that he his a representative of all men who share his complexion. Would you say that Denzil Washington, Samuel L Jackson (too many to mention here)and others appreciate the black women they are married to? They don’t have to be vocal about it, the imagery is strong enough for me.Quite frankly this division of the complexions which our people to this day feel it’s relevant to perpetuate needs to stop. We are damaging the youth with this nonsense.
Just a t-shirt. Mmm, dating and sleeping with BW doesn’y mean he/or anyoneelse is down for us.
I think loving BW involves protecting and combating racism and sexism affecting BW.
Black men light or dark, often fail to address police brutality affecting BW and rape and/or sexual violence affecting BW etc.