Megan Thee Stallion Champions Black Women, Addresses 2020 Election in Powerful New York Times Op-Ed

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Megan Thee Stallion penned a powerful op-ed for the New York Times — championing Black women, addressing the 2020 election, and lamenting over the stars of American history.

Stallion also addressed her Saturday Night Live performance, police brutality, sexism, and violence towards women — opening up about the alleged Tory Lanez shooting.

“In the weeks leading up to the election, Black women are expected once again to deliver victory for Democratic candidates,” Stallion opened. “We have gone from being unable to vote legally to a highly courted voting bloc — all in little more than a century. Despite this and despite the way so many have embraced messages about racial justice this year, Black women are still constantly disrespected and disregarded in so many areas of life.”

Later in her essay, Stallion continued to address ways that Black women have been disrespected, especially focusing on their absence from textbooks, despite being at the forefront of several groundbreaking moments throughout history.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if Black girls weren’t inundated with negative, sexist comments about Black women? If they were told instead of the many important things that we’ve achieved?” Stallion asked before honoring NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson.

Stallion noted that it took major motion picture Hidden Figures for the world to recognize Johnson’s achievements, and wished she learned about her growing up.

“I wish I’d learned in school about this story as well as more earthly achievements: that Alice H. Parker filed the patent for the first home furnace, or that Marie Van Brittan Brown created the first home security system,” she added. “Or that Black women, too often in the shadows of such accomplishments, actually powered the civil rights movement.”

Stallion also opened up about her Saturday Night Live performance, during which she blasted Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who was responsible for presenting the grand jury against the Louisville police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor. None of the officers were charged with Taylor’s killing, while one officer faced relatively low-level charges for a shot that hit a neighboring home.

“I’m not afraid of criticism,” Stallion said of her performance. “We live in a country where we have the freedom to criticize elected officials. And it’s ridiculous that some people think the simple phrase ‘Protect Black women’ is controversial. We deserve to be protected as human beings.”

Stallion ended her essay by referencing “legends” Shirley Chisholm, Loretta Lynch, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), and the first Black woman to be elected to the Senate, Carol Moseley Braun.

“My hope is that Kamala Harris’s candidacy for vice president will usher in an era where Black women in 2020 are no longer ‘making history’ for achieving things that should have been accomplished decades ago,” she added.

“But that will take time, and Black women are not naïve. We know that after the last ballot is cast and the vote is tallied, we are likely to go back to fighting for ourselves. Because at least for now, that’s all we have.”

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