Beyonce ‘Responds’ to SA ‘Blood Diamond’ Criticism
Last week, online users rushed to criticise a campaign where Beyoncé and Jay Z featured in collaboration with Tiffany & Co. Critics lambasted the entire ‘About Love’ campaign, with stars like Ayanda Thabete finding fault with Jay Z’s hair to others bemoaning the presence of the rare art piece titled Equals Pi by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
However, the criticism that has arguably dominated headlines was of the Tiffany Yellow Diamond that Beyoncé donned while elegantly posing next to her husband.
The singer was praised for being the fourth woman and the first black woman to wear the yellow diamond, but tweeps who claim that the jewel is a blood diamond were not at all impressed. While the intricate details of the jewel aren’t known, it is certainly centered within a problematic past and is tainted by its colonial roots in Kimberley, South Africa.
At the time of its discovery in the late 1800s a group of mixed-raced peoples called the Griqua nation, had long settled in Kimberley, naming the desolated area Griqualand. Despite the efforts made by Nicolaas Waterboer to advocate for the Griquas ownership of the land, the Griqua were warred off and massacred by colonial troops after the discovery of a diamond in the area. Approximately thirty thousand black labourers were used to work the land, an enterprise which “was slavery in all but name.”
People have been particularly critical of Jay Z and Beyoncé because of how they tend to position themselves within discourses of black liberation and pan-Africanism through their art. While Beyoncé has often kept mum when it came to criticism, sources from The Sun UK gave reports that the singer is surprised regarding the history of the diamond.
Beyoncé is aware of the criticism and is disappointed and angry that she wasn’t made aware of questions about its history,” an unnamed source told the paper.
“She thought that every final detail had been better, but now she realises that the diamond itself was overlooked.”
Known for always coming to her daughter’s defence, Beyoncé’s mother Tina Knowles commented on an Instagram post by The Grio regarding the diamond.
“How many of you socially conscious activist own diamonds ? I thought so ! Well guess what did you go to try to check to see where the diamond came from? Probably not [sic]!,” she wrote.
“So when you guys get engaged you won’t have a diamond you gonna put on a sterling silver band And you better check out where it came from and the origin of where came from and why you add it check out the calls for the Leather that you weird because they made it came from another country to to ban and not buy diamonds right because your righteous [sic] !!”
Beyoncé has not directly responded to the criticism.