Solange shares essay on “white spaces” after being abused at a Kraftwerk show

Over the weekend, Solange took to social media to share her experience of harassment at a recent Kraftwerk show.

After being told to stop dancing by those behind her and having things thrown at her, she shared her experience via Twitter (since deleted). Following an online backlash, she then took to Saint Heron to share a longer version of events, and a wider critique of her experiences within “white spaces”.

“You know when you share this that a part of the population is going to side with the women who threw trash at you,” she states in the piece. “You know that they will come up with every excuse to remove that huge part of the incident and make this about you standing up at a concert ‘blocking someone’s view… You constantly see the media having a hard time contextualizing black women and men as victims every day, even when it means losing their own lives.”

She continues: “You have lived a part of your life in predominately white spaces since you were a kid and even had your 3rd grade teacher tell you “what a nigger is” in front of your entire white class. You watched your parents trying to explain why this was wrong to her and learned then it can be virtuously impossible to get your point across… We belong. We built this.”

You can read the statement in full here.