A Seat at the Table
“This is an editorial I wrote and delivered for an event I co-curated in 2018 in honor of Solange’s album A Seat at the Table.
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The theme of tonight’s edition of VERSO / is Seat at the Table. A Seat at the Table was an album released by Solange Knowles in September 2016. I want to highlight the political context in which the album was released.
In the summer of 2016 the electorate of the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. This prompted the highest spike in religious and racial hate crimes on record.
A month after the album came out, an audio recording was released in which the orange faced, woman hating, white supremacist presidential candidate of the United States bragged about grabbing the pussies of women. And in November of that year, that same woman hating, sexual predator was elected president.
It was in this emotional and political landscape that I received Solange’s album. A Seat at the Table was an intervention. In it Solange worries about, meditates on, and celebrates what it means to be a Black woman in America. The album explores the hypocrisy of a world that revels in the production and consumption of Black culture while being indifferent (at best) to the humanity of Black people.
When we needed it most Solange made it okay to not be okay. And, in the centering of Black womanhood she affirmed our right to be healed, loved and cared for. In the sonic journey of this album Solange proffers a salve, a balm, a retreat, a restorative cocoon.
In their review of the album, American online magazine Pitchfork wrote: Even though it’s been out less than a week, it already seems like a document of historical significance, not just for its formidable musical achievements but for the way it encapsulates black cultural and social history with such richness, generosity, and truth.
I had been interpreting the title of this album as a request. A request for more inclusion of Black people, of Black women at the table of music, of literature, of culture, of life, of humanity. A request for a door that opens and stays open. But, as I was writing this editorial I found an interview Solange did with NPR in which she is asked if the success of her album gave her a seat at the table. She says:
We've always had a seat at the table. I think that title has a lot of different subtexts. I think one of the seats at the table is… I'm inviting you to have a seat at my table. And it's an honor to be able to have a seat at our table and for us to open up in this way and for us to feel safe enough to have these conversations and share them with you...so many times, black people — or any people who are oppressed — have to constantly explain to people what's right and wrong and what hurts and how to approach this… and I think that when you have the opportunity to learn from that, you are gracious and you are appreciative and you listen.