After a huge vacuum in the tradition of political songs in the West, one has made way. (Here, In Bengal, we have been lucky to have our Gaanwala keep singing and creating music that pokes at our laziness, to the extent people hate the songmaker with vituperative venom). Alynda Lee Segarra, the songmaker: I am mostly familiar with how the song [The Body Electric] has taught me there is a true connection between gendered violence and racist violence. There is a weaponization of the body happening right now in America. Our bodies are being turned against us. Black and brown bodies are being portrayed as inherently dangerous. A Black persons size and stature are being used as reason for murder against them. This is ultimately a deranged fear of the power and capabilities of black people. It is the same evil idea that leads us to blame women for attacks by their abusers. Normalizing rape, domestic abuse and even murder of women of all races is an effort to take the humanity out of our female bodies. To objectify and to ridicule the female body is ultimately a symptom of fear of the power women hold.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 06:25:15 +0000
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