A co-founder of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) chapter in Los Angeles has attracted national attention for labeling “Swifties” as racist, along with smearing the recent Super Bowl win for the Kansas City Chiefs.
In addition to helping launch BLM in California’s City of Angels, Melina Abdullah is a professor of Pan-African studies at Cal State University.
Beginning on Feb. 11, the same day that the Chiefs won the 58th Super Bowl, Abdullah posted on her X account multiple messages indicating her belief that the fans of wildly popular musician Taylor Swift are “racist.”
She wrote on her social media page that she “feel[s] like it’s slightly racist to be a Taylor Swift fan.”
Why do I feel like it’s slightly racist to be a Taylor Swift fan?
— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) February 11, 2024
When prompted to give a reason for her assertion, Abdullah emphasized her word choice of “feel, not think” and likened her emotion to “that feeling” she experiences if “there are too many American flags.”
I said FEEL, not think.
Kind of like that feeling I get when there are too many American flags.— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) February 13, 2024
Swift’s name has been almost inseparable from that of Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, whom she has been dating for the past several months. After the Kansas City team claimed the highest title in the NFL, Abdullah posted yet again, this time referring to the Super Bowl win as “some right-wing, white-supremacist conspiracy.”
Why do I feel like this was some right-wing, white-supremacist conspiracy?!?!
Booooooo!!!!#SuperBowl— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) February 12, 2024
The professor backed her stance by saying she is not “offended” when people call her out for spreading such wild claims online, writing that “virtually everything is racist.”
Folks think they’re attacking me by asking for why I think everything is racist…
I’m not offended.
Virtually everything is racist.— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) February 13, 2024
Previously, Abdullah has publicly expressed numerous controversial messages, such as telling White people not to come to Juneteenth cookouts, including a June 2022 post on X that called for “reparations” to be made by “white folks” on the same day.
Attention white people…
Please don’t ask if you can come to the cookout…#Juneteenth is freedom day for Black folks.It should be #Reparations day for white folks.
— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) June 13, 2022
In another notable instance that took place in December 2021, the professor voiced support for actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of faking a hate crime three years ago. He was found guilty days after Abdullah defended his innocence via the BLM website.
Following her latest outcry against perceived racism, Abdullah has become the center of many discussions around the globe. Conservative media host Rita Panahi and journalist Kinsey Schofield talked about the incident on a recent segment of Sky News Australia.
Both women noted that the primary source of the professor’s accusations was her own emotion and the irony of linking Swift and Kelce — neither of whom are known to be conservative-minded individuals — to racist conspiracy theories.
