Strange Fruit

What was the best, biggest, most important album released in 2016? Last weekend at the Grammy Awards, that honor went not to Beyoncé's "Lemonade," but to Adele's "25," leading many of us to wonder what Adele herself asked backstage: "What the f*** does she have to do to win album of the year?" But it was her comments on stage, while accepting the award, that got most of the attention. She praised "Lemonade" and called Beyoncé, "the artist of my life." And then she said this: "And the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering. And you make them stand up for themselves. And I love you. I always have and I always will." While the speech sounds complimentary, there's history behind the phrase "black friends" coming out of a white person's mouth. It's been called the "some of my best friends" defense, deployed in response to being accused of racism. Like, "I can't be racist. I