African Chief Criticizes Beyoncé
Beyoncé has been attacked by a South African chief for her rumored decision to make a film about a woman enslaved in the country and forced to work in a freak show. Reports suggest that the singer would be writing and acting in a project about Saartjie “Sarah†Baartman, a South African woman who became known for her large buttocks and “unusual colouringâ€. She was taken to Europe in 1810 and objectified by those who would pay to see her half-naked body, under the stage name of Hottentot Venus (below). “She lacks the basic human dignity to be worthy of writing Sarah’s story, let alone playing the part,†Chief Jean Burgess of the Ghonaqua First Peoples told News24. “Why Sarah Baartman? Why not a story about an Indigenous American woman? I can only see arrogance in her attempt to tell a story that is not hers to tell.†What do you think? Do you have to be African to play African?
