When attending a concert of one of your favorite bands results in getting hit in the back with fruit by a group of women, there can only be one explanation - they think we don't belong here. That's at least how Solange Knowles felt about her recent encounter with a group of white women while attending a Kraftwerk show.
The incident that left 30-year-old Knowles so troubled and disturbed she immediately took to Twitter to expose what happened involved a group of women who threw a half-eaten lime at her from behind at a concert reported Nola/The Times-Picayune.
Knowles decided to use social media as a way to hold the women accountable for their actions but, instead of full support from her followers, she received backlash and ridicule from some who commented on her standing up at the show and blocking other concert goers from seeing.
@solangeknowles so you blocked the view of a woman in a wheelchair? Id have thrown more than a lime; nasty nasty woman you are & #badmum
— Michael Burns (@ooohouchburn) September 10, 2016
Others brought up the elevator incident involving she and brother-in-law Jay-Z.
You kicked and punched someone in an elevator but a lime wedge made you feel unsafe? Errr. Ok. @solangeknowles
— Laura Archer (@bloopstack) September 10, 2016
@solangeknowles like the "riding in an elevator with you" sense of not feeling safe? — TW!ST #TwistLife (@djTWIST) September 11, 2016
The singer took to her website, Saint Heron, to deliver a blog post titled, "And Do You Belong? I Do, revisiting the entire ordeal in full detail.
In a very lengthy, yet heartfelt post, Knowles described how she and her family attended the Kraftwerk concert and while enjoying herself, standing; dancing and singing along to the music, a woman behind her "yell[ed] aggressively, 'sit down now, you need to sit down right now," she recalled.
When she refused, she felt something hit her on the back of her shoulder, followed by something else that was "less heavy" and "smaller" than the first object. Her son, Daniel Julez Smith, Jr., who also attended the concert with a friend and his dad, witnessed the woman throw a lime at his mother.
As explained on the Saint Heron site, it wasn't the request to sit down that struck a nerve with the "T.O.N.Y." singer but the tone in which she demanded it of her.
The open letter began with Knowles, also the younger sister of music icon Beyonce Knowles-Carter, providing many comparable scenarios describing how the woman's tone made her feel.
"It's the same one that says to your friend, 'BOY.... go on over there and hand me my bag' at the airport, assuming he's a porter," described the mother of one. "It usually does not include 'please.' It does not include 'will you.' It does not include 'would you mind,' for you must not even be worth wasting their mouths forming these respectable words...'
According to Knowles, the tweets that she received in response to what happened totally misconstrued her statements and misrepresented her character.
"[I] never called these women racists, but people will continuously put those words in [my] mouth," explained Knowles. "What [I] did indeed say [was], 'This is why many black people are uncomfortable being in predominately white spaces,' and [I] still stand true to that," she continued.
Not everyone was against her and her purpose for relaying those details. Being Mary Jane actress Gabrielle Union shared her support of Knowles' story on Twitter, validating the experience with a caption that read, "this is real and happens everyday."
https://t.co/xDbxVpJFha I can relate to everything @solangeknowles experienced. This is real & it happens everyday. We are not making it up — Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) September 11, 2016
