Halsey Speaks Up About White-Passing Privilege: ‘I’m Not Susceptible to the Same Violence’
Halsey is using her platform to talk about racism and her own experiences as a white-passing, biracial woman.
After attending demonstrations that protested the killing of George Floyd, Halsey revealed she treated victims of police brutality who had been “shot in the chest, the face, [and] the back” by rubber bullets. Now, the pop star is firing back at critics who are criticizing the way she speaks about her experience. According to Teen Vogue, a now deleted tweet accused the artist of not embracing her “Black side” based on her language when she talks about race.
“I’m white-passing. It’s not my place to say ‘we.’ It’s my place to help,” Halsey wrote on June 3. “I am in pain for my family, but nobody is gonna kill me based on my skin color. I’ve always been proud of who I am, but it’d be an absolute disservice to say ‘we’ when I’m not susceptible to the same violence.”
This is not the first time Halsey has spoken about identifying as a Black woman with features that allow her to move through the world with privilege. “I’m white-passing. I’ve accepted that about myself and have never tried to control anything about Black culture that’s not mine,” she said of her biracial identity in a 2017 interview with Playboy. “I look like a white girl, but I don’t feel like one. I’m a Black woman. So it’s been weird navigating that.”
Back in 2018 the Grammy-winning singer spoke about the ways hotels cater to white women by not offering shampoo and products made for Black women and textured hair. “I’ve been traveling for years now, and it’s been so frustrating that the hotel toiletry industry entirely alienates people of color,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet, according to *Allure(. “I can’t use this perfumed watered down white people shampoo. Neither can 50% of ur customers. Annoying.” This sparked a large debate among her fans.
“How can u have lived ur entire life without knowing that people of color and white people require different hair care products,” she responded to one Twitter user.
Despite criticism, Halsey continues to fight for equality and educate ignorance. “It’s become very clear to me that some of you need to see what I’ve seen,” she wrote on Instagram this week alongside videos and photographs from her time at Black Lives Matter protests. “Please swipe through this. These pictures and videos don’t even scratch the surface. It’s easy from the comfort of your home to watch looting and rioting on television and condone the violent measures being taken by forces. But what you don’t see is innocent, peaceful protestors being shot at and tear gassed and physically assaulted relentlessly.
“You think it’s not happening. It’s only the ‘thugs’ and the ‘riots,’ right? The police are keeping you safe, right? You’re wrong,” she continued in her caption. “This is happening everywhere. And innocent people exercising their rights to speech and assembly are facing violence and abuse of power. With all of our medical professionals being CONSUMED and EXHAUSTED with COVID, there is little to no medical attention available.”
Halsey decided to help those in need of medical treatment. “I have first hand treated men, women, and children who have been shot in the chest, the face, the back. Some will lose vision; some have lost fingers. I have been covered in innocent blood. My father is a black man. My mother is an EMT. This week, I had to put those two associations together in ways that have horrified me.
“This is NOT a virtue signaling post. But I HAVE to show you what I am witnessing with my own eyes,” she wrote, wrapping up her statement. “With Trump’s decision today to enforce the mobilization of armed forces on our own citizens, this has escalated beyond your privilege and comfort to not care. Please care. We are begging you to care. This is war on Americans. This is everyone’s problem. Everyone’s. #BLACKLIVESMATTER.”
Originally Appeared on Glamour
