I never ever heard of this until just now. Wait 'till I Google this...
OK: first, here's the reason she was booed off the award show:
She sounded like shit!
Now: What a twisted, racist world we live in! Black people want equality and not to be judged on the basis of race and culture, yet we condemn and ostracize those whom do not conform to a narrowly defined Afrocentric view and lifestyle.
Black artists have always been taken to task by Blacks [[and some Whites) for not being "black enough". Whitney Houston wasn't anything new, this had been happening since people tried to make Blacks palatable for "proper White folk". There have been many. Among them are: Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis Jr., Lou Rawls, The Supremes, Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Dianne Carroll, Bill Cosby, and Whitney Houston. hell! What do you think Motown's Maxine Powell's etiquette school was all about?
It's part of a continuing question that Blacks have to ask themselves and each other: what does it mean to be Black? Do you have to walk, talk, sing, and act a certain way to be accepted as Black? How Black do you want Blacks to be? Black? Violet-Black? Blue-Black? Deep super-duper Black? Black people in America fought hard to stop Whites from doing that to us, and then we do it to ourselves??? And, Black people who don't "fit the profile" feel it all the time! I know I do, so I can relate to this. I remember some years ago, a forum member criticized me because I didn't know the "Black National Anthem". What? Is that some kind of requirement? My Black family, nor I, ever got the memo.
Why do people, both White and Black, still think of Black people being some monolithic group of people? Are Black people not allowed to be individuals and think for ourselves? Are we not allowed to enjoy Whitney's music after that first album? Can I not enjoy AC/DC or Carpenters music? And, how about this: why do we think that White people are so clean and pure that they have to be presented with a squeaky-clean image of Black people? [[Well, maybe they do over at the Fox news channel.) Last time I checked, plenty of White people love Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, NWA, 2-Live Crew, and others. I remember when an awful lot of Whites were literally scared of NWA and other gangsta rappers, and a lot of others loved them.
Many Black singers struggles with being accepted by those of their own race. Jimi Hendrix disbanded The Experience because he was criticized for being "too White". Prince recorded the "Black Album" because he was criticized for being "too White". I'm sure Michael Jackson even felt the sting of this type of criticism. And, now there is strong evidence that Whitney felt the same. Why do we do this to ourselves and each other? Just because a Black person doesn't fit someone else's narrow definition of Blackness? What is "sounding White"? What is "sounding Black"?
I looked around and have yet to find any evidence of Al Sharpton calling her "Whitey Houston" and calling for a boycott of her records. Perhaps someone can provide credible evidence of this.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of links I came up with:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b0bb2d08720ecd
http://gawker.com/remember-when-whit...o-w-1660783143
Oh, and one more thing:
this forum covered this exact, same issue before.
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