Well..it’s been over a week since we lost Aretha, and a lot has been written by a lot of people ..some who actually understood her, some who didn’t have a clue..some who were touched by her..and many who pretended to be. I waited because wanted to dwell on her life a bit. Talk to some people I’ve known over the years..see how they felt.. I wanted to find the right words to say what Aretha meant to me..as well as what she meant to a whole generation. What I mean by that is this generation of Black people who were born and raised in the twenty to thirty years after WW II. She literally stood for everything we began to understand and to become in those years..Aretha was born not in her beloved Detroit but in the “Jim Crow” south …Memphis Tenn.. Being born in ’42 she was a little older than some of us..but she rode that train of hair relaxers and “skin tone” creams.. Rosa Parks and Martin..wigs and hair dye .of Stokely and Black Power..Viet Nam and All Power to the people right along with us. It’s true Aretha probably was the greatest singer of the later half of the 20th century..in much the same way as Ethel Waters..(who in her day had song writers waiting in block long lines to get her to sing their music) was to another generation..But what made Aretha different is not just the fact that some publicity person named her the “Queen” of Soul. But by becoming a part of all the change and seeming empowerment , and the new pride we had in just being Black Americans…for the very first time..embracing our new love of African ancestry..Aretha didn’t just live up to being the Queen of soul….she defined it …..herself. When civil rights workers needed her ..she was there…but that was safe. When many Black women were reluctant to wear natural hair and African influenced garb on stage or TV Aretha would strut her stuff with pride..causing many others to do the same..
When Black Revolutionaries needed the “Queen” she was there…and for anybody else in show business that would have been a risk…when Aretha talked about her support of Angela Davis, record company people reminded her of Paul Robeson..another generations “super nigger” who stepped out of his place ..and how his career was destroyed ..according to Jerry Wexler her Atlantic records mentor..Aretha said “come on with it”…something sisters and brothers in the hood used to say when threatened “back in the day” she had no fear….Yes Aretha knew she had influence but she also seemed to know when to use it..and when not to..even saying the she knew the term “diva” was really a sexist insult for being a “bitch”..something most singers of her generation didn’t even understand.. but in later years she would admit “sometimes I can get my diva on….but I earned it”..Her life her career was a celebration of the joy and pride we gained as African Americans after centuries of being treated as well as behaving like third class citizens in our own country..oh yeah and the “respect”…not just the kind Otis Redding sang about …but the kind only another woman understood..There won’t be another Queen..because the times she lived in had as much to do with Aretha owning that title as anything else…and those times were unique…Aretha was not JUST the Queen of soul ..she also had messages for abused women and single mothers… women of all colors and cultures..well it took me a while to find the right words…rest in peace Aretha, “Detroit Diva”..or “Tennessee songbird”…Queen of Soul
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