What Formation Means to Me

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released a new song a video called Formation and proceeded to snatch wigs, edges, and lives from people across the world. While the vast majority of her fans (and even some non-fans) enjoyed both the song and the visuals, the message behind both resonated with one group in particular. The Southern Black Woman.

Being a Southern Black Woman myself, both the song and video hit me straight in the chest. Lyrics like “I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros” and “I like my Negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils” take on a whole new meaning when you have the kind of upbringing I and many other Southern Black girls had.

Growing up as a little Black girl in the South, I experienced both homelessness and Hood Life. The message I got from both media and society was that I would never be good enough the way I was. I was told that in order to be successful, I would have to change the way I looked, the way I spoke, the way I acted, every single thing about me. Speaking AAVE was not “acceptable.” The music I enjoyed was not “respectable.” Even my accent had people doubting my intelligence. I heard these things, both explicitly and subliminally, every day of my young life and so did many other young Black girls. The message that you need to suppress yourself in order to gain any type of success is a very damaging one and many people never recover from it. Even worse, many people buy into it and pass it down to the next generation of children.

One of the most powerful things about Formation was how it pushed back against that message. Beyoncé explicitly states that she loves herself exactly the way she is. She directly addresses all of the people criticizing her daughter’s hair and says that she loves her baby’s natural afro. She even says that no matter how much money she makes, she will still keep all those little country mannerisms like keeping hot sauce in her bag. Beyoncé is saying with this song that her success isn’t dependent upon her sacrificing or compromising the core of who she is. That message is an extremely powerful one. Having one of, if not the, biggest Black female celebrity of our time put that message in a video that has been viewed by millions of people across the globe and performed at one of the biggest sporting events in the country is massive.

It’s hard to say exactly how it will impact Black women and girls as a whole, but from what I’ve seen on social media the effect is very positive. I know for a fact that it has been for me. It’s no secret that I struggle with mental illness. Lately I’ve been going through a depressive episode that has caused my grades to slip, my moods to yo-yo, and all thoughts of self-care to fly out the window. Add to that a separation and possible divorce, an unexpected pregnancy, a sudden move, and a very stressful and painful birth and well… I haven’t been a very happy camper as of late. It’s been so bad that I lost all desire to do the one thing that I always thought I was pretty good at, write. Formation pulled my head above water and gave me the inspiration I needed to write for the first time in months. While it may not be the best thing I ever wrote, it’s something. It’s a stepping stone towards getting better and doing the great things that I know, deep down, that I am capable of.

So thank you Beyoncé for Formation and all of the great things contained both in the song and video. I needed this. Black girls all over the South and the world needed this.