In the essay "Who You Callin' a Bitch?" Queen Latifah, born Dana Elaine Owens, wrote about thoughts and words as being powerful. She learned that what she said, in the spoken or written word, was what she would get back from the world whether good or bad. That was why she kept her music positive so she could uplift and inform. Her words would become one of her strongest offensive tools that would be used along her chosen mission. Words change our lives by shaping identity (Latifah 33,34).
In the reading about Lucy Grealy titled Masks, Lucy talks about her pain of ugliness and how that pain was far worse than her cancer. Lucy said “the great tragedy of my life. The fact that I had cancer seemed minor in comparison” (Grealy 66). Her pain was inflicted with words about her ugliness which came from a group of boys. Lucy realized those boys were passing judgment on her suitability as a girlfriend, and words were shaping her identity (Grealy 69).
In 1994 Queen Latifah won a Grammy, an NAACP Image Award, and a Soul Train Music Award for a song she had written. The words in the song spoke about girls being called a bitch or ho and this made them have a low self-esteem. Queen Latifah wrote “You know all of that’s got to go” in her song (34). Queen Latifah said that she wrote her song because she saw women being verbally and physically assaulted, and especially in rap music. One group called itself BWA---Bitches With Attitude. Other groups were disrespecting them in their raps, and these ladies did not even defend themselves in their music. She was concerned about what cultural message that was sending (Latifah 34).
Queen Latifah shaped the idea that if a girl does not feel like a bitch, no one can call you that and make it stick. She said “I realized it was more important to start building women up and making them look inside themselves than to bash fellas” (Latifah 35). She learned at a young age, from her mom’s words, that she did not have to accept somebody else’s nickname for her. She defines who she is. Her mom planted a seed in her head, with words, and in her mind she began the queen idea. Queen Latifah believes that each woman has a queen inside them, and it was placed there before they were even formed in the womb. She feels it is just a matter of bringing the queen out. Latifah describes how it starts inside, by feeling good about yourself, and that a queen has high self-esteem. She decided to work on the low self-esteem of women and started using words describing her queen idea to change their identity (Latifah 34,35).
Latifah gives an example of high self-esteem at work describing when Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was faced with adversity. Jacqueline had witnessed the assassination of her children’s father, her husband. Jacqueline could not have felt anything but pain too immense to describe. Still Jacqueline had a pride and a will to represent something higher than herself. She was a champion. Jacqueline was the closest thing this country had ever had to a queen. Queen Latifah said “She is remembered not for her extreme wealth and jewels, nor for her exquisite taste---although that was very much a part of who she was---but for her grace in the face of adversity, for her generosity and charity” (35).
In times of adversity Latifahs’ mother used words to create this queen identity in her as a child. Her mom would talk how a queen never sells out and a queen will sacrifice quick money and material goods for the greater purpose of keeping her soul. Laying the foundation, her mother raised her daughter to become a self-proclaimed queen. Her mom always told her how smart, beautiful, and talented she was. Latifah formed a high self-esteem. Even if you do not have a mother, or grandmother, a tough aunt, or someone to create the queen in you, Latifah says you can still be a queen, and she proclaims it loudly with words. She said “You have to want it for yourself. You have to know yourself” (Latifah 36). Queen Latifah knows who she is. She is confident. She knows God. She can take care of herself. She shares her life with others and she loves. She is worthy of the title Queen. And words change lives (Latifah 35,36).
Works Cited
Latterell, Catherine. “Masks.” Remix Reading and Composing Culture.
Grealy, Lucy.New York
Latterell, Catherine. “Who You Callin’ a Bitch?” Remix Reading and Composing Culture.
Owens, Elaine.New Jersey
Latterell, Catherine. “Masks.” Remix Reading and Composing Culture.
Grealy, Lucy.
Latterell, Catherine. “Who You Callin’ a Bitch?” Remix Reading and Composing Culture.
Owens, Elaine.
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