Super Bowl Halftime Show A Lesson In Interest Vs. Commitment

It all started with a text. My friend text, “Happy Super Bowl Sunday”. My reply, “Amir Locke”. Another friend in the same text thread typed, “I’m confused”. This led me to state that I am not watching the game because the very thing that Colin Kaepernick was protesting, the murder of Black people at the hands of the police, was still occurring as recently as last week with the murder of Amir Locke in Minneapolis.?

I didn’t realize that those simple text and the subsequent exchanges that followed would have me analyzing the Super Bowl halftime show with a new level of scrutiny. How could I know that the show would be ripe with symbolism as it was without my ever having seen it in advance? But there I was watching it in all of it’s glory and the communicator in me was overwhelmed by what I saw. I knew what I witnessed and processed was no where near what millions of NFL fans saw when they looked at the performance. It actually took me two days of thinking and reviewing the footage to break down the symbolism of the Super Bowl halftime show and its subliminal and overt support and continuation of white supremacy, privilege and power. All of which was broadcast internationally for the world to see.

Can we agree that symbolism matters in the United States of America? The World Trade Center was a symbol of America. The Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, The Pentagon are all symbols of America (and White Supremacy). American currency is full of symbolism from the all seeing eye, to the American eagle with the arrows in its talons, symbolism is everywhere in America. If we are honest symbolism matters throughout the rest of the world as well. Every aspect of the Super Bowl entertainment was orchestrated to showcase the pageantry and symbolism of America. Nothing about the entertainment that day was left to chance. Having America The Beautiful and The Star Spangled Banner sang inside the arena was just as symbolic as having Lift Every Voice And Sing be sung outside of the arena. Mitch McConnell gave us a preview a few weeks prior when he reminded us that “African-Americans are voting in just as high of a percentage as Americans”. The implication being that Black people are viewed as apart from America but not really a part of America. Lift Every Voice And Sing is apart from America and should be song however, it’s not enough of a part of America to be sung inside the stadium. It is a subtle yet symbolic reminder that these three songs are not equal. It’s a subtle, yet powerful reminder that Black and white people are not equal in the Unites States of America either.?

Historically Dr. Dre and Snoop have claimed that their music was created to give a voice to the voiceless in particularly those voiceless, young, Black males. They have made millions of dollars off of the support they garnered from Black people. They have made and continue to make millions of dollars off of their ability to connect, reflect, and represent Black culture to the white capitalist power structure. In discussing his vision for the halftime show Dr. Dre stated (and I am paraphrasing) that he wanted to have a halftime show that put hip hop culture and South L.A. in the mainstream. He wanted to, “blow peoples minds”. What happened? Why didn’t he do it? He had 14 minutes to demonstrate that everything he has told us he stands for is what he really stands for. He started his career saying F the police and now when he is a billionaire with, “F you” money he sings and buck dances for massa’ (the all white billionaire NFL owners). His performance reminiscent of the good old days when the fiddler would be called from the slave quarters to entertain the master and his guest.

What happened to the Dr. Dre who had us all saying, “F the police” with such authority that it changed the trajectory of the prison industrial complex and militarized the police in response to our conviction that we were not going to keep taking the abuse? The man who some would argue was at the vanguard of the gangster rap revolution in hip hop now stood face to face with the very establishment he had beef with with, a billion dollars in his bank account, and billions of fans aka soldiers at his back. Standing in his homeland, South Central L.A. the only way he could think to “blow our minds” as he put it and keep it 100 for hip hop was to highlight the negative aspects of hip hop culture that continues to devastate our communities and demonize our people daily? Perhaps he missed the memo that Amir Locke had been killed by the police just one week before the Super Bowl? Perhaps he didn’t know that a lawsuit claiming the NFL was discriminating against Black coaches had been filed the week before as well? Could it be that he did know and made a conscious decision to celebrate and dance anyway? One thing is certain, the NFL knew. They knew and that is why they felt that it was important for them to preview the performances. This is why allegedly the NFL stated that, “there will be no kneeling during any of the performances”. This is why the NFL requested that certain lyrics be removed from certain songs that were to be performed. Why didn’t Dre, Snoop, Kendrick, 50, nor Mary J. really stand up for hip hop by taking a knee instead of performing? They didn’t because they were told not to.?

Do you remember when Black politicians, ministers, educators, community leaders and organizations, Black women, mothers and daughters alike tried to tell Dre and Snoop and other so-called gangster rappers to, “Stop calling women bitches and whores, stop using the n-word, and stop promoting violence”? Their response to being told what to do back then when the order came from Black people was a loud and resounding, “No, go f yourselves. We are speaking for the people”. Now all of a sudden these same hip hop royalty and leaders are willing to take orders from the NFL. How quickly the mighty have fallen (that reference was for my Christian hip hop, and football fans). The NFL said don’t take a knee because they understand the power of symbolism. They understood it when Colin Kaepernick did it and they understand it now that Eminem has done it.?

That’s right Eminem, the white rapper, did a star trek move and boldly went where no others on the stage with him would dare to go. What happens when your favorite white rapper does what you had hoped your favorite Black rappers would do during the Super Bowl? Do you cheer for the white rapper? Do you say that it’s racist for the NFL to allow the white rapper to exert his privilege and do what they would never let a Black (I know he is mixed but in the United States of America do we ever really let you forget that one drop rule we had?) quarterback do? Do I call my Black rappers some punks for not using their gangster bravado to tell the NFL and the world to go f yourself until police of all colors stop murdering black people summarily? Do I ask myself am I being too hard on these rappers by expecting them to do what entertainers who never had their level of material wealth have done before them circa, Sidney Poitier, James Brown, Harry Belafonte, and Dick Gregory? Or do I just change the channel, and shut up and dribble as one news show host said Black men who were not elected to office should do?

I don’t know what I should have done, but what I did do was change how I looked at the halftime show. I went back and re-examined the symbolism. I did what every other critical thinker should have done in the same situation - I asked more questions than I gave answers. I based my questions on the messages I perceived were being sent and those that were being received just as my degrees in communication from an established an accredited body of predominately white scholarship had taught me. Were the NFL owners, executives, Jay z., Dre, and Snoop more comfortable promoting L.A. street gang culture globally in the form of the “Crip Walk” than they were in promoting an end to police and state sanctioned violence against African Americans by kneeling? Are NFL fans and executives continuing the tradition of happily exploiting Black mens bodies for entertainment purposes while simultaneously ignoring the trauma that those same Black men face when they remove their helmets and step off of the field of play? Can you honestly say that you are a fan of a person if you don’t care about what happens to them when they are no longer entertaining you? Are Dre, Snoop and the others really afraid to lose the fans that would be upset with them taking a stand for the very people they say they have always represented? Remember hip hop was started as a voice for the voiceless. Remember that when they were broke and had nothing, it was the Black community that showed them love (California Love) and now they are afraid of the backlash? From who? For what reason?

If Eminem can take a knee and say, “F you” to the fair weather fans, the NFL owners and execs, and to the anti-Black establishment without fear of the repercussions, surely Dre as the guy who put Em on and signs his checks (or at least still gets a check from his labors) can take a similar risk? In my work I often quote Kenneth Blanchard (yes a white man with some questionable views on race) who says, “There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” Are Dre, Snoop, 50, Kendrick, Mary J. and Jay-Z interested in the plight of Black people (Black men in particular who are murdered by the police), or are they committed? Prior to the halftime show I would have said they were committed to empowering Black people, especially disenfranchised, disconnected, and vilified young Black men. Having watched the halftime show I now have to question if it were all an act? They are interested in empowering the Black community, but commitment cost too much for them to practice it. Another great Black male Super Bowl performer who had a questionable relationship with Black people once he reached a certain level of success predicted the conclusion that I have drawn from this experience when he sang:

“Tell me what has become of my life

I have a wife and two children who love me

I'm a victim of police brutality, now (Mhhm)

I'm tired of bein' the victim of hate

Your rapin' me of my pride

Oh, for God's sake

I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy...

Set me free…

All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us

All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us”

Michael Jackson