In early July, Hurricane Beryl slammed into the coast of Texas after dancing in the Gulf of Mexico for a couple of weeks, with an initial expected path headed to the Yucatan Peninsula. However, on July 8th, it made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast, with devastation felt as far inward as Houston and its surrounding areas.
On the heels of the disaster, Houston native Megan Thee Stallion and her Pete & Thomas Foundation, collaborated with local charity Bread of Life to launch the Need Power Program, which will guarantee that older citizens in the city will always have access to energy in case of need. “It’s been painful to watch the elderly population in Houston suffer without electricity during these devastating storms, and we need to do our part to provide our elders with the best resources possible to withstand future emergencies,” said Megan.
Executive director of Bread of Life Rudy Rasmus reiterated, “Our goal is to provide generators to our most vulnerable seniors ahead of storms or other events that knock out power so there is no interruption in service.”
At least 20 deaths in the Houston area have been linked to Beryl, most of them being seniors. Heat exposure brought on by protracted power outages accounted for six of the thirteen storm-related fatalities in Harris County. One of the main local energy companies, CenterPoint, took almost a week to rectify the majority of the power outages that affected the entire city. And although their intentions are good, citizens shouldn’t have to rely on celebrities to do the jobs designated to public entities.
Senator Carol Alvarado questioned CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells during a special senate committee hearing in Austin, where she inquired about the company’s intentions to present a case for a rate increase to the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the implications for taxpayers. To sum up, Wells acknowledged that CenterPoint will in fact request a fee rise to be placed upon consumers to make up for financial losses during the recent storm.
“I take accountability for those areas where we fell short of our customer’s expectations, and I want to apologize for the frustration our customers and their families experienced as a result. There are no excuses. We will do better. We will improve. And we will act with a greater sense of urgency,” Wells said. “Hurricane Beryl impacted so many lives, and I want to express my condolences to the families and friends who lost loved ones.”
CenterPoint Energy has assured the public that it will perform better as it continues to come under fire and criticism for its handling of Hurricane Beryl, but lawmakers, and citizens alike, in Texas are unsure of how much of the burden would fall on taxpayers moving ahead.
This is not the first time Megan Thee Stallion has established herself as a pillar of democracy for her local community and corresponding fanbase. Let us not forget she graduated from the prestigious Texas Southern University in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in Public Health Administration, while simultaneously winning the Grammy award for Best New Artist that same year. She has been unapologetically loud about her dedication to women’s rights and reproductive freedoms which is why it comes as no surprise that she was booked as the opening performing artist for one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent campaign rallies in Atlanta, Georgia. Although her performance at the rally drew some criticism, it wasn’t unexpected due to the specific misogynistic tone of this election. Megan certainly isn’t the first hip-hop artist to position themselves, and their platforms, as an advocate for democracy. However, this election hits a little closer to home with the first African American woman as the official Democratic presidential candidate on the ballot. We live in an era where women are fighting for their freedoms across all demographics and aren’t afraid to use the access to their audience to amplify their message for the greater good. One of Megan’s peers and close friends Cardi B has never been shy about her role in sociopolitical activism. “I don’t really put a lot of political things in my music, but I use the f*ck out of my platform, and I have used my platform even when I was a dancer. Because you might think that people are not looking, but they are.” is what she told former late-night host David Letterman’s in a clip from his hit Netflix series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction”
From Queen Latifah to Megan Thee Stallion, from Harlem to Houston, women in hip-hop have been holding it down while holding each other up, building their communities up one brick, one block, and one ballot at a time. So, whether you twerk, two-step, or tiptoe your way to the polls, I don’t care how you get there, just get there if you can.
