The Black Madonna is now The Blessed Madonna, Darth Fader would be the better name
A change.org user named “Monty Luke” started a petition “The Black Madonna: It’s Time to Change the Name”.
He wrote: “Cultural appropriation is the process by which aspects of one culture are copied and used (appropriated) by members of another culture. This phenomenon can be especially problematic when members from a dominant culture appropriate from a minority culture. Often times, this usage is done without the permission of the minority culture and the original intent and cultural context of those elements are often degraded or lost entirely. We have seen this countless times in the realm of pop culture over the years and especially so in the world of music. Through the use of aliases, artist names, song titles and even clever publicity and media schemes, there have been countless examples of white artists appropriating aspects of black culture to their benefit. By creating a black identity, these artists aim to create authenticity, without acknowledging the damage and hurt they cause to black people and black culture.
On June 14 of this year, I emailed Marea Stamper, in an effort to open a dialogue about the possibility of her moving away from using her DJ alias, The Black Madonna. This name, “The Black Madonna,” holds significance for catholics around the world, but especially so for black catholics in the US, Caribbean and Latin America. In addition, Detroit’s Shrine of the Black Madonna has been an important cultural figure to many interested in the idea of Black feminism and self-determination for the past 50 years. Religious connotations aside though, it should be abundantly clear that in 2020, a white woman calling herself ‘black’ is highly problematic. I explained these things in my message and concluded the email with some practical suggestions on how the nickname/alias transition could take place.”
She really changed her name, even if the name makes no sense. “This name, “The Black Madonna,” holds significance for Catholics around the world” was the purpose of the petition and she only changed “black” to “blessed”. Maybe there comes a new petition from Pope Francis?
“The Blessed Madonna: It’s Time to Change the Name, please use ‘Darth Fader'”.