On Black Culture and Race Relations

On April 14th, Beyonce became the first black woman to headline at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. This year’s festival has seen more black female acts showcased than ever before. Currently, music is seeing a renaissance of black female vocalists and rappers. SZA and Cardi B are two other highly anticipated black female acts that have seen major success with their album releases. This year, 24 acts are black female acts, which is a high for Coachella. Beyonce’s set paid homage to historically black colleges and universities and showcased an overwhelming amount of blackness to a predominately white Coachella audience. She used the setting of an HBCU homecoming classic to celebrate black college culture in a way we’ve never seen before and has never been done before. She featured an all-star band with a drum line and orchestra made up of talented working musicians; her dance line turned into a group of majorette girls that are the gems of black college culture; and ...

Every year, several companies in the fashion and beauty industry face backlash for putting out racially insensitive ads. These ads offend particular races, often people of color, and go against the system of social justice ethics. Social justice ethics is under the branch of virtue ethics, further under the category of egalitarianism. Social justice ethics is is about what is fair for everyone and treating everyone as equals with equal rights and freedoms. This year, H&M received loads of backlash and had two collaborators, The Weeknd and G-Eazy, walk away from partnerships with them due to their insensitive ad for a children’s hoodie. The company advertised a hoodie that reads “coolest monkey in the jungle” on a little dark-skinned black boy. H&M is a Swedish company, and might not be aware of the history of blacks being compared to monkeys, especially in American culture. However, it goes against social justice ethics because it offends a specific people by promoting, wh...