Why They're Mad: Beyoncé's Super Bowl Performance Was Peak Blackness
Conservatives and racists are crying everywhere.
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Beyoncé Is Down for the Cause - The movement lives. After the Blackest takeover of a Super Bowl halftime show in history, Beyoncé is facing backlash for her bold coming out as "woke." Her performance of her new trap feminist track, "Formation," which included many references to African-American history and Black politics and culture, are upsetting conservatives who are crying that it was not "wholesome" and was an attack on "police officers." Yet many happily saw themselves represented during the show. BET.com looks at why Beyoncé's performance was peak Blackness and a significant celebration of Black History Month. — Natelege Whaley(Photo: Matt Cowan/Getty Images)
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Protests Against 'Formation' - Some are so angry that Beyoncé had the nerve to celebrate her Blackness that they are protesting in front of the NFL headquarters in New York City on Tuesday Feb. 16. Of course when Black women caught wind of the protest they also planned to show up and shut down their naysayers with their own counter protest. “When Black women affirm Blackness/Black womanhood, they are attacked and silenced,” said Eventbrite.(Photo: Eventbrite.com)
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Paid Homage to the Black Panther Party - Bey recruited a team of backup dancers in all shades of chocolate, who paid homage to the Black Panther Party with their Afros, berets, black leather and combat boots. These ladies acknowledged the political group that was founded 50 years ago.The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the biggest stages in American entertainment. More than 189 million were expected to tune in Sunday night. So this level of badassness is not what most of middle America is used to. (Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)
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'Justice 4 Mario Woods' - During the event, some of the dancers protested the killing of Mario Woods, a 26-year-old African-American man who was shot and killed by San Francisco police officers in 2015. This act brought the Black Lives Matter movement to the field and brought awareness to an injustice that occurred in this year's Super Bowl host city.(Photo: Jamilah King via Twitter)
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Hip Hop Roots and James Brown - Bruno Mars, his band and dancers gave the perfect warm-up to Beyoncé. Their gold rope chains, bucket hats and Nike Cortez sneakers took us back to the 1980s era of hip hop. And if you were listening closely, during "Uptown Funk," you'd notice his band did a quick bass-heavy breakdown as an ode to the late, great James Brown. (Photo: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
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