Megan Thee Stallion has been lighting up the news and gossip columns in 2020, first concerning her 'relationship' with G-Eazy, and more recently because she responded on Instagram Live to the leak of her 2015 mug shot. Meg decided to take her narrative into her own hands and give her fans the real story of her arrest during SXSW 2015. She told the world that she had discovered her boyfriend at the time's infidelity and about a child that he had with his mistress. Meg mentions that, after she had decided to "walk away" from the situation, her then-boyfriend began to push and pull at her, later smashing her phone under foot. She said that the police arrived while she was still punching her ex-boyfriend, and " the police officer asked me, 'did he hit you?' Bitch, my weave to the side, my shirt jacked up, my pants dirty because he'd been pushing me, so me being the real bitch that I am, the strong Black queen trying to hold it down for my Black king, I say, 'No, officer, he didn’t hit me', because I don’t want him to go to jail! Then, when they ask him if he hit me, he said, 'yeah! She hit me in the eye...', really gassing it up...". Megan admitted to this being a toxic relationship in the beginning of her video, and though she must have been furious at the time, we can see that she still chose to cover for her ex-boyfriend out of fear of police and the state and solidarity or protection for her man. Feminista Jones, in "Reclaiming Our Space" discusses the nexus of Blackness and womanhood and the solidarity that Black women must have with Black men while receiving none of the support and all of the misogyny back from their male counterparts. Throughout chapter one, she references the "erasure of Black women's voices" from the Black Power movement, where Black women are expected to silently support Black men while men continue to disregard the experiences, thoughts, feelings, and realities of Black women. In "Black Feminism Goes Viral", Professor Mark Anthony Neal asserts that the Black family is at the center of Black Feminism, and that's why Black men initially were involved in the movement. This idea shows is the level of misogyny in any political movement, where male members tend to try and claim their women, not allowing them to grow political thought independent of male context. Megan stood up for her ex, while he chose to throw her under the bus, fully knowing that she would be arrested and the consequences of arrests on women of color. Two thirds of women in prison are women of color, and women (especially women of color) are very likely to be assaulted or raped by those in positions of power while in jail. Not to mention that this man fathered a child with the woman he was cheating on Megan with, which could indeed spark another entire discussion in the Black Feminist framework. Meg, you’re better off without him.
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