Source: skynesher / Getty
Just last night, I showed my husband Beychella. We weren’t married during that iconic moment so he wasn’t forced to watch it with me, at the crack of dawn. But he saw it last night. During the performance, which was an ode to HBCU culture, Beyoncé swag surfed for Coachella’s predominately White audience. And it was miraculous.
Though a part of me wonders if White folks saw that dance and then went about co-opting it.
During the NCAA March Madness collegiate basketball tournament, Texas Tech fans decided to swag surf. For those of you who don’t know, Texas Tech is a predominately White school. The results lacked flavor.
Swag Surf
What’s particularly interesting about the video is the fact that the Black couple in the place, remained seated. They wanted no parts in this poor display of cultural co-opting. And it was a wise decision. While Texas Tech would go on to lose last night’s game, the clip of this moment has gone viral…and not in a good way. Black folks are mourning what many see as yet another example of White folks gentrifying one of our traditions, robbing it of its original essence.
Milly Rock
This is by far the most egregious example you’ll see in this here slideshow. Not only does this White woman not know how to do the Milly Rock, she has so much confidence in her lack of abilities, she presumes that she can teach others how to do it.
Woah Dance
This was so far off that it took me a minute to determine what these two were actually doing. It’s supposed to be the Woah Dance. They were so far off, I’ll show you how the dance is supposed to be done on the next page.
Here it goes in an actual club setting. Pushing not included.
https://twitter.com/MikeStodghill/status/1107194567923851265
Orange Justice/Shoot
The interesting thing about the Orange Justice dance is that there are discrepancies about where it came from. But there’s a good chance that it was created by a White person. Unlike White folks though, Black people have perfected it.
The Shoot dance was definitely created by a Black person. And what we see here in the video, is not right.
