“Twerk, v.: dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.”
You may be wondering just how and why a popular dance move, which unbeknowst to white America, has been around for years has become the unlikely catalyst is bridging the still canyon-esque gap between blacks and whites.
The fact that it took a formerly beloved Disney actress dressed down in nude colored lingerie shaking her rear end to the chagrin of all spectators, to open this discussion is quite alarming.
Since then, the proverbial genie has been let out of the bottle and those ‘unsavory’ bits about perceived Black culture have been made ok to speak about on the mainstream level. White culture forcibly adopting Black culture is nothing new–ever since the days of Elvis, white households have had to live with the pink elephant in the room. Their precious youths being ‘enticed’ by this exotic and alluring piece of rebellion.
Twerking within itself has little to do with the case of Johnny Football, but the reaction from the mainstream does. The attacks on Manziel have been echoing long before Miley strutted her flat butt on stage. No, no, mainstream media has been toeing the line of flat-out calling Manziel ‘too black’ for months.
Saturday proved to be the sports equivalent of what Miley Cyrus had done one week prior at the VMAs. A punished Manziel sat on the bench for the first half in the season opener versus Rice, as was doled out by the NCAA for his part in ‘autographs-gate’.
The moment Manziel rose from the bench it became clear, no punishment no matter how lenient or heavy was gonna stop Manziel from being himself. And so, Manziel shined on the field and put up three touchdowns in what was an all too easy victory for the Aggies, who trounced Rice 52-31.
Victory wasn’t enough to appease the mainstream, and so what took precident wasn’t the game but Manziel’s actions–the dancing, the ‘autographs’ signing moves and the money gestures. All rightly criticized, Manziel rubbed the matter in the NCAA’s face, but then again who was it who gave him the laughably light ‘punishment’ in the first place? Manziel’s white skin allowed him the privilege of just receiving a media backlash, as opposed to any further punishment.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see just what the critiques on Manziel were bordering–from the ‘immaturity’ cries on, Manziel has taken the classic imagery of the quote unquote ‘All American’ Quarterback and added flair to it in the form of grills, money bopping and rims. To put it curtly, Manziel has become too black for comfort.
The New York times published an Op-Ed titled ‘Explaining Twerking to your Parents‘ written by Teddy Wayne. Now, I don’t know much about Wayne or his background, from the looks of him he seems harmless, but writing a sentence like this as part of his piece is anything but harmless:
Explain that twerking is a dance move typically associated with lower-income African-American women that involves the rapid gyration of the hips in a fashion that prominently exhibits the elasticity of the gluteal musculature.
It’s sentences like that which put perfect perspective on just why Manziel is so maligned–he’s embraced something that’s supposed to be scary and beneath him. Anything vaguely ‘urban’ is still put in a file and labeled unfavorably by the mainstream upon further review. Twerking was shoved in the face of White America that Sunday night, and the next morning parents in suburbia were forced to come to terms that the world is becoming smaller.
Manziel getting on the field ‘flossing’ with the bravado of a rapper throwing down bands in a strip club forced open the eyes of many, and it’s a reality that’s too real for them to comprehend.
The preconceived notions on what a Quarterback is supposed to look and act like got drop kicked the second Manziel did this
Comedian Paul Mooney said it best “Things can always be ‘too black’ but can never be ‘white,”.
Both Manziel and Cyrus proved that point with their antics, this marks yet another shift in culture and how slow we still are to embrace things ‘outside the norm’.
There’s no question that Manziel deserves at least most of the criticism he receives, but to act ignorant on the role that race plays in just why so many are angered over his behavior would be naive.
That’s also not to call those who criticize him racist, the word is ‘unfamiliar’ and perhaps through no fault of their own, but the mainstream media is going to take time to get used to white Quarterbacks making it rain invisible money after throwing bombs in the end zone. Give them time.
Until then, I think it’s time everyone take a few breaths on all things twerking and otherwise and realize the bigger picture. Yet again social media has brought the world together, and while ‘black twitter’ ate up Manziel’s performance on Saturday the mainstream–which happens to be mostly white turned up their noses at his ‘stink’ and his disrespect for the game.
Let’s all embrace the happy medium to be found in what transpired and realize how far we still have to come before traipsing past our natural prejudices, no matter how seemingly insignificant.