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.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friends, I have changed my name to The Blessed Madonna. I have always been transparent about my faith because I felt a responsibility to be clear about who I was and who I was not. The name was a reflection of my family’s lifelong and profound Catholic devotion to a specific kind of European icon of the Virgin Mary which is dark in hue. People who shared that devotion loved the name, but in retrospect I should have listened harder to other perspectives. But now I hear loud and clear. My artist name has been a point of controversy, confusion, pain and frustration that distracts from things that are a thousand times more important than any single word in that name. We’re living in extraordinary times and this is a very small part of a much bigger conversation, but we all have a responsibility to try and affect positive change in any way we can. I want you to be able to feel confident in the person I am and what I stand for. Thank you for listening. Stay blessed. -Love Marea PS: If you read this far, arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky: Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove.

Ein Beitrag geteilt von The Blessed Madonna (@blessed_madonna) am Jul 20, 2020 um 2:56 PDT

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'”. 

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