By Walter L. Hilliard III
Black men, because of their strength, intelligence, and sexuality, are the most vilified and attacked men on the planet, whether it’s the police committing another “justifiable homicide, or it’s the media and Hollyweird, among others, showing how much they fear and hate us by “castrating” our image.
As of late, Hollyweird fears the Black man’s sexuality so much so that they routinely showcase Black men as women, carrying out the most extreme effeminization process of the Black male image I’ve seen in years. Add to this, the limited number of times any Black man appears on the movie or TV screen, period.
By putting Black men in dresses and heels, and having them switch around on screen and act like women (see Rupaul, for example), they are sending the message to the world that the Black man is really less than a man.
It seems for a lot of Black women, a Black man is not good enough to be her man, but he can be one of her “girlfriends.” Lisa Raye has her effeminate cousin living with her on her TV show. Monique has an effeminate Black man that is seen switching around in the opening intro of her nightly show. Fantasia has her effeminate assistant guiding her career every moment during her program. And on Brandy and Ray J’s show, Brandy parades around with her effeminate Black male friend and her girlfriends. Not to mention, Oprah just did a follow up show with a Mr. Down Low autho. And a lot of angry Black women maliciously and wrongly cast an air of suspicion around many Black men of being on the down low and blaming them for the aids epidemic, which is really caused by intravenous drug use and individuals having multiple sleeping partners.
What’s going on? I thought Black women were looking for mates? Maybe if some of these women running around with gay men spent more time with straight men, they could find husbands.
And if Oprah hates Stedman so much that she won’t even marry him, then why not go ahead and dump him instead of taking out her hostilities on Black men, in general, by doing these dumb down low shows, or shows like the one she did telling Black women to go marry White men?
And how is a Black man in heels going to protect the Black woman, take care of her, or otherwise?
Some Black girls have even given up on Black men and dress and act like men themselves, pimping other Black girls, calling themselves Studs. And other Black girls have decided they’d rather date and mate with other Black women, and call themselves Fems. And these are just two of the names they use.
Really . . . ?
Really!
I mean, uhhhmmm, like, don’t we have a community to save, or something? I think some of us simply have way too much time on our hands.
Anyway, years ago, I can remember enjoying kicking back and watching The Cosby Show. I thought Theo was cool (well, maybe not?), Bill was funny and insightful, and Phylicia Rashad was beautiful and sexy. These Black role models were probably the best we’ve ever seen on television, no matter what your race.
Now fast-forward to the premiere of the 2010 Atlanta Housewives, which was really Black insanity on steroids and to the tenth power. As the show flowed from housewife to housewife, it was obvious that Bravo would be expanding upon its previous character assassination of the Black male image, a Black man who was once viewed as the head of the Black family and the king of civilization.
Yes, three or four of the star housewives parade around with gay men like they’re accessories all of the time. And these grown men carry purses, wear fingernail polish and make up. During one show, one of the men even wore a shirt that revealed what appeared to be small breasts. In fact, some of the gay men on the show have larger roles than some of the straight Black men.
What’s wrong with these materialistic Atlanta broads? How do they explain their romping around with these men to their sons?
Well, they don’t care, obviously. They think they’re celebrities, but they’re really being exploited by Hollyweird, which isn’t an issue to them, I’m sure, because they’re “gettin’ paid.” And we all know a lot of Black people will do anything for money.
Hey, the nails and hair gotta Get Did, girlfriend.
When Black men occasionally do get a big screen role, they’re playing women.
Think about most of the major Black male stars – most of whom are comedians, which Hollywood prefers – they’ve all played women characters before: Chris Rock, Chris Tucker, Tyler Perry, Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Wesley Snipes, Jamie Fox, Marlon Wayans, Sean Wayans, Damon Wayans, Kennan Ivory Wayans, Ving Rhames, and the list goes on.
But one of the most disappointing comments I’ve read was that Will Smith said he wished he had really kissed the actor opposite him in Six Degrees of Separation (the Hollywood media was on his case for awhile), instead of the director having to use camera tricks and another actor. I think Will has been in Hollyweird for far too long. Apparently, Denzel Washington had advised him against kissing another man. At the time, Smith also felt kissing a man wouldn’t have went over well with his Philly buddies.
Uhhh, ya think!?
A couple years ago, Black director extraordinaire John Singleton said: “There’s nothing but comedies, and I’m tired of all these Black men in dresses. Every other movie has a Black man in a dress, from the Madea movies to Norbit to Big Momma’s House. How come nobody’s protesting that? They call them family movies, and nobody’s telling the little kids that it’s kind of different for a man to wear a dress. I’m just saying that it comes to a point where, if that’s the only types of images they’re seeing, how is that informing upon Black men in America? “
Black kids are confused because Black people are confused. Since slavery our traditional family unit was our strength and has enabled us to survive, but our families started to gradually deteriorate throughout the 19th century after desegregation and because of alcohol, drugs, materialism, gender role confusion, and so on. Even marriage is not a valued tradition in our community anymore. In fact, 43 percent of Black women have never been married.
It seems that the Black community’s demise has always been because of our following or imitating the White mainstream’s behavior, from abusing alcohol to using drugs; however, we are a smaller community, we do not have their resources and we’re already at the bottom of the societal totem pole. And which way can you go when you’re already down?
Richard Pryor’s angry friends once yelled: “Which way is up, sucker” to him after he sold out to The Man in the movie Which Way Is Up?
I don’t think a lot of Black people can answer this question.
A SOUL BREAK
