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This Decades Old Video Of Maya Angelou Correcting A Teen Sparked A Huge Debate On Twitter
This Decades Old Video Of Maya Angelou Correcting A Teen Sparked A Huge Debate On Twitter
"A young woman like you, or any other, has no license to come up to me and call me by my first name."
Twitter just gave us a bigtime reminder that things have changed a lot between generations. A video of Maya Angelou that went viral is proving now to be that reminder.
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In the video, which Newsweek reports is from the early 1990s, is of a talk show and shows Angelou sitting on stage taking questions from the audience. When the host chooses a young girl, who begins her question by addressing Angelou as “Maya,” the legendary poet and civil rights activist responds with some unexpected fury.
“Oh, thank you,” Angelou says to the girl in the clip. "And first, I’m Ms. Angelou."
"I’m not Maya, I’m 62 years old," Angelou continues. "I’ve lived so long and tried so hard that a young woman like you, or any other, has no license to come up to me and call me by my first name. That’s first. Also, because at the same time, I’m your mother, I’m your auntie, I’m your teacher, I'm your professor. See?”
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I can’t wait to turn 30 so I can read one of yall for calling me by my first name like this: pic.twitter.com/ym71DkWCNn
— Mr. Girth of a Nation (@PrinceCharmingP) March 14, 2019The clip was posted by Twitter user @PrinceCharmingP, who captioned it, "I can’t wait to turn 30 so I can read one of yall for calling me by my first name like this." The video currently (as of Saturday afternoon) has amassed over 16,000 retweets, 54,000 likes and almost 2.5 million views.
Of course, Twitter responded and it sparked a debate.
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Some said Angelou's statement is still relevant
Some of y’all weren’t raised right & it shows pic.twitter.com/cTbx6ffA9X
— Maya DeBrae (@MayaDebrae) March 15, 2019 -
They don’t raise em how hey used to. She should have known better
— 😎 (@LafnCus) March 15, 2019 -
Some of y'all weren't raised right and it shows. Now y'all mad and wanna get disrespectful, for what?
— Des🌺 (@itsmydestanee) March 15, 2019 -
while others believe it was unnecessary and arcane
I would’ve been like..... pic.twitter.com/CdS4qAIhqI
— King Of Kings 🤴🏾 (@TheKhadirWatson) March 14, 2019 -
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i’m honestly saying “nvm don’t even worry about it” and sitting back down😂
— ke🧚🏼♀️ (@UnbrokenNikole) March 15, 2019 -
I fully respect everything that comes out of her mouth but this... I feel so bad for the young girl because you can tell she ment no disrespect and ended up getting checked on national television 💀.
— Teeks ✨ (@TikiBrown) March 14, 2019
Photo: Kris Connor/Getty Images
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