Shelley Park's Song 'Dear Mama'

Shelley Park critiques the biological bond between a mother and child as a romanticized “circular logic” that proves the idea that women are naturally nurturing. This romanticisation exemplifies that the bond between biological mother and child is stronger than any other bond. We see this in “Dear Mama” a song recorded by the late rapper, Tupac Shakur. His example not only serves as an example of a queer mono-maternalism but also ties in with Park’s biological essentialism hypothesis. Which states that the human nature of giving birth is a innate and natural essence. In other words, women were put on this Earth to give birth and that’s it.

Effects of Romanticisation
One of the main arguments that Park discusses is the effect that this romanticism
has on mothering and motherhood. She firmly believes that the romanticization of the mother and child bond perpetuates mono-maternalism, which in turn “upholds heteropatriarchal family.” What Park is trying to portray to her audience is the definition of a real mother and how it has always been defined by the biological imperative that a real mother is one who has the capacity to give birth.
In the introduction, Park uses the example of children who do not live with their biological mother. She states that the children feel unlovable and left wondering why their ‘real’ mom failed to exhibit the maternal instinct. For example, an adopted mother is usually seen as the secondary mother of adopted children since they do not have that biological bond. The children are wondering about the ‘real’ mom and why they did not have this natural love for them. The adopted mother only receives the promotion to the primary mother when the biological mother is deemed unfit.
In Tupac’s case, he did not have a secondary mother within his life. Even when his mother was deemed unfit that was still his real mom, so he loved her despite her flaws.

Dear Mama Romanticizes Mother-child Bond.
A great example of romanization of the biological mother-child bond is the song written by Tupac Shakur titled “Dear Mama”. In “Dear Mama”, Tupac describes his childhood poverty and his mom’s addiction to crack. However, he argues that his love and respect for his mother override the bad memories. His mom, Afeni Shakur, was an active member of the Black Panther Party, thus she was absent during most of his early years and, as he grew to become a teenager, she became addicted to crack. She then kicked him out of the house, forcing him to live with a friend. However, in the end, Tupac and his mother reconcile because she is his mother and he just loves her as such. This example values the biological bond between mother and child because even as Afeni became a drug addict and kicked him out in the street, both qualities of a “bad” mother, he still loved her like royalty.
In the song, Tupac exclaims, “ And even as a crack fiend, mama
You always was a black queen, mama.” Even as he identifies his mother as a fiend, Tupac still values her love and even praises her. This may be in part to the fact that he came from a single parent household. In America, there is a relatively high percentage of black households headed by single moms. Carrying the baby in the womb, the biological relation, and the physical resemblance the single mother plays in their kid's life are what ultimately leads to them achieving a status of an eternal and unconditional symbol of love and nurture. Tupac also fits this mold, we see this as we analyze one of his interviews about the making of Dear Mama “ "Why do you think I wrote 'Dear Mama'? I wrote it for my mama because I love her and I felt I owed her something deep” He did not think twice about whether she should write a song in her honor which shows that his love for his mom was naturally occurring and was something that went deeper than bad
memories.

Black Panther Party or Motherhood
Before becoming a mother, Afeni Shakur was an active member of the Black Panther party. After being acquitted not too long before Tupac’s birth, she left the party to become a mother. She even goes so far as stating that the reason she was happy she was acquitted was “because I had a son.” This example illustrates Park’s argument that the biological essentialism shapes one's “phenomenological experiences of biological motherhood.” Afeni gave up her role as a member of the Black Panther Party in order to fulfill her one true destiny, motherhood.

Biological Bond
The biological bond between a mother and her child originates even before the birth of the child. During the intro of the song, Afeni stated that “I thought my baby would never be with me.” Revealing her fear that she would not be able to have and care for the child that she loved and carried. To add on, it is interesting to see Tupac’s bond with his younger sister. He mentions that he and his sister have different dads but that does not matter because they have the same mother. There is this biological bond between mother and child that transcends to the children as well. Even though the relationship between Tupac and his sister is not portrayed much in the video, the viewer immediately gets the idea that Tupac loves his sister because they have the same real mom.

Conclusion
Shelly Park provides a strong argument about the romanticization of the biological mother and child bond and how it “renders poly maternal families invisible.” She is worried that this romanticization may cause harm to children who do not live with their biological mother. Park argues that we must integrate biological essentialism and re-define the socially normative definition of a real mother. Tupac’s song “Dear Mama” is an interesting case that illustrates Park’s argument. Much too often when analyzing Park’s argument, it is done from the perspective of the mother. In “Dear Mama” the story is told through the lens of the child, Tupac. “Dear Mama” shows the duality of the mother-child bond and also shows how important Park’s argument is because it portrays the effect the romanticization of the biological mother-child bond can affect the psychic of the child.