{"id":114143,"date":"2021-01-29T12:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=114143"},"modified":"2021-01-31T11:12:33","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T16:12:33","slug":"black-lives-matter-faces-backlash-after-posting-twerk-video-celebrating-mlk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/black-lives-matter-faces-backlash-after-posting-twerk-video-celebrating-mlk\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Lives Matter Faces Backlash After Posting Twerk Video Celebrating MLK"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblack-lives-matter-faces-backlash-after-posting-twerk-video-celebrating-mlk%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=114143&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Black Lives Matter Global Network is facing backlash after promoting a \u201cTwerk on Washington\u201d performance art video online intended to honor one of the most renowned figures of what is historically considered the modern civil rights movement.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2021-01-27\/twerk-video-mlk-black-lives-matter-backlash\">reports<\/a> the video begins with \u201ca closeup of Shaina Simmons\u2019 backside, draped in American flag booty shorts\u2026in a performance set to an energetic New Orleans beat and sampling excerpts of Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u2018I Have a Dream\u2019 speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Times continues: \u201cSimmons twerks up and down the National Mall \u2013 gyrating by the reflecting pool, dropping into a split at the Louisiana pillar of the World War II Memorial, bouncing up the steps to the statue of Abraham Lincoln \u2013 as visitors ignore or stop to stare.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The video was released earlier this month as part of Black Lives Matter\u2019s \u201cMLK Artist Series.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2021-01-27\/twerk-video-mlk-black-lives-matter-backlash\">According<\/a> to BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, the program strives to \u201ccollectively remember Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King not just as an iconic Civil Rights leader, but as a human being full of love, joy, play, and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a joint curatorial statement issued by Cullors and Noni Limar, the duo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CKMbRgQhbG8\/\">explained<\/a> the new series focuses \u201con Black Life and how MLK\u2019s life has inspired us all to live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis year is especially important to amplify his work more than ever after the violent events that took place at the US Capitol, our symbol of democracy, on January 6<sup>th<\/sup>,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cThis attack against the 117<sup>th<\/sup> US Congress \u2013 carried out by a mob of white supremacists \u2013 was an attempt to overturn Trump\u2019s defeat in the election, a direct assault on our right to vote and democracy. We need to uplift our community right now and these artists have been curated as love is the focal point of their work, and with love brings healing and the ability to rejoice and continue the necessary work to move forward as people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, after BLM shared the tribute on its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CKMbRgQhbG8\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">official Instagram account<\/a>, The Times reports that \u201ca flood of backlash immediately followed,\u201d a reaction that reportedly \u201cshocked\u201d both Cullors and Limar.<\/p>\n<p>As The L.A. Times recently reported:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>The Instagram post received 1.2 million views and more than 5,000 comments, most of them negative, calling the video tasteless, disrespectful, uncomfortable and embarrassing. Many demanded Black Lives Matter take the video down. On Simmons\u2019 personal Instagram, where the artist spent about three hours responding to feedback, there was even more resistance to the idea of twerking to celebrate King\u2019s legacy. \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Simmons first recorded and released \u201cTwerk on Washington\u201d in 2019 near Independence Day. She chose to twerk at the National Mall because of the area\u2019s history \u2014 a space for protests but also a site of oppression of Black Americans. (Enslaved Black people\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2016\/jul\/25\/michelle-obama\/michelle-obama-correct-white-house-was-built-slave\/\">helped to build<\/a>\u00a0the White House and the Capitol.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A continuation of her series of performances centered on twerking beginning in 2017, \u201cTwerk on Washington\u201d explores what it means to reclaim traditional dances on American soil. Even though people were overwhelmingly supportive of the first release, the recent backlash serves as a reminder to continue making art around the rights of Black women, Simmons said.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Times went on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2021-01-27\/twerk-video-mlk-black-lives-matter-backlash\">cite<\/a> a \u201cdance scholar and educator,\u201d reporting that twerking \u201ctraces back to at least the early 1990s, in Black communities in New Orleans.\u201d The article said, \u201cthe roots of the movement show a strong resemblance to West African traditional dances,\u201d but \u201ccame to mainstream media\u2019s consciousness around 2013 when white pop star Miley Cyrus twerked at the MTV Video Music Awards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince then, the dance has become increasingly popular and appropriated,\u201d the Times added.<\/p>\n<p>Simmons <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CKMbRgQhbG8\/\">described<\/a> the controversial \u201cTwerk on Washington\u201d video as \u201cadvocating for the decolonization of oversexualizing Black women\u2019s bodies to reclaim\u2026ancient sacred dances of liberation and wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe shame of traditional African practices is not ours,\u201d she continued. \u201cTrauma is kept in the body, shake it off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cullors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2021-01-27\/twerk-video-mlk-black-lives-matter-backlash\">said<\/a> she \u201cdid not at all see this piece as a sexualized piece,\u201d adding, \u201cIt felt like high performance, high art conversation with the March on Washington, and it felt like a perfect fit for this series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Black Lives Matter Global Network is facing backlash after promoting a \u201cTwerk on Washington\u201d performance art video online intended to honor one of the most renowned figures of what &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892282,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3645,4265,4212,4144,4216,4219],"class_list":["post-114143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-after","tag-backlash","tag-black","tag-faces","tag-lives","tag-matter"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}