JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE November issue 2015 | Page 35

black woman with
power in America
but it seemed
somehow wrong to
speak of this; maybe
she was postracial
now. So I directed
my question to a
younger Rihanna,
and asked if she had
suddenly felt aware
of race in a different
way when she
moved to New
York.
She hesitated, and
when I nervously
began to apologize,
she interrupted.
‘‘You know, when I
started to experience
the difference — or
even have my race
be highlighted — it
was mostly when I
would do business
deals.’’ Business
deals. Meaning that
everyone’s cool with
a young black
woman singing,
dancing, partying
and looking hot, but
JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE

that when it comes
time to negotiate, to
broker a deal, she is
suddenly made
aware of her
blackness. ‘‘And,
you know, that
never ends, by the
way. It’s still a
thing. And it’s the
thing that makes me
want to prove
people wrong. It
almost excites me; I
know what they’re
expecting and I
can’t wait to show
them that I’m here
to exceed those
expectations.’’ She
sounded like a
young black
professional trying
to make it in the
corporate world, and
I guessed she was —
just on a very
different scale.
‘‘But I have to bear
in mind,’’ she
continued, looking
right at the voice
recorder, ‘‘that those
people are judging