The video begins and ends with images of a police car sinking.
More than any other image, this one stands out to those calling "Formation" anti-police: Beyoncé is on top of a New Orleans police cruiser sinking into the water. But it's not really so clear-cut: The car sinks along with the houses in the background, and in the end, the singer herself. Shot on location in New Orleans, "Formation" suggests a deep loss for black people, but also the community at large.
There are many references to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina.
"Formation" begins with a sample of the New Orleans comedian Messy Mya, who was shot and killed, asking, "What happened at the New Wil'ins?" (You can see the video of Mya here.) The song and video are in many ways asking the same question about what's considered by many a massive failure of the government in the wake of Katrina. The song may also be asking about Mya's mysterious murder, for which the wrong man was held behind bars for years.
There are also images of flooded homes...
There's also what appears to be a New Orleans-style funeral procession with jazz music, a local tradition.
Of course, it wouldn't be New Orleans without some crawfish, a favorite local food.
"When he f--- me good I take his a-- to Red Lobster, 'cause I slay," Beyoncé informs us.
The song also features the popular New Orleans musician Big Freedia in the interludes.
The song and video are suffused with references to black life, and specifically, black Southern life.
Beyoncé calls herself a "Bama," which is a slang word referring to someone who is clearly from the South, with loaded and sometimes insulting historical implications. But she's embracing it, just as she's happy with her black identity. It's the "haters" who have a problem (she says she "twirls" on them).
Beyoncé has talked about being from Texas before of course, but here she really gets to her roots. "My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana/You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama," she sings, referring to her heritage.
Black pride and Southern pride are constant themes in the lyrics. Beyoncé says she likes her daughter Blue Ivy's natural hair, and Blue Ivy can be seen in the video.
"I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros
I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils
Earned all this money but they never take the country out me
I got a hot sauce in my bag, swag"
Speaking of hair, the singer makes many nods to traditional African-American hairstyles in "Formation."
She rocks some seriously long braids while riding around in a Camino.
She also appears in a white negligee that has historical significance.
Her lacy outfit in one scene appears to be in the style of famous photographs of New Orleans prostitutes from the early 1900s.
Despite what critics may think of Beyoncé, she is sure of her success. "You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making... I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making," she says.
A newspaper shows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the headline "More Than a Dreamer."
The story inside is about "the real legacy" of King as a "revolutionary."
"Okay, okay, ladies, now let's get in formation," Beyoncé sings.
The singer and her all-female black backup dancers are seen in what looks like security footage, another possible reference to police and their strained relationship with black citizens. At the Super Bowl, her backup dancers honored the Black Panthers and their formation 50 years ago. From its inception 50 years ago, the controversial black nationalist group sought to challenge police brutality. While the Super Bowl dancers paid tribute to the Black Panther Party, nothing in the actual song or video is directly connected to it.
...In one shot, graffiti on a wall says, "Stop shooting us," pointing to recent cases in which black men were killed by police.
He's wearing a hoodie just like the one Trayvon Martin was wearing when he was killed.
Other celebrities including LeBron James have used hoodies to protest Martin's death at the hands of police.
The boy in the video also holds his hands up — just as Michael Brown was holding his hands up, according to eyewitnesses, when he was shot by police.
But the police, in riot gear, do not use force. Instead they hold their own hands up — a symbol of black empowerment in action.
Finally, Beyoncé sinks into the water with the police car.
While some have jumped on what the singer is saying about police, it's clear that she wants to show how racism affects and destroys all of us — she's not just attacking police, but the larger culture that allows for police abuse. She leaves us with the image of a community drowning.
