An honest look at the black gay characters in film

Seven Seconds starring Regina King on Netflix is a story of a black teenage boy killed by a white cop in Jersey City. The cops cover up the crime and the lies and betrayal eventually damage everyone involved. 

SPOILERS AHEAD

One of the interesting things about this story is that this young man who was killed was privately gay. His parents did not find out until after he died. 

SPOILERS OVER

The obvious over saturation of gay black men in film and tv shows is something that I do not like for many reasons. However this show was not one of those times. In my eyes It highlights the difference between having gay black men on screen engaging in gratuitous gay sex scenes that add nothing to the plot, contrasting with gay characters that serve a purpose to the story. I have watched scenes from " The Watchmen" "Six Degrees of Separation" and "LoveCraft Country". All of those have shockingly graphic gay scenes that in my opinion add nothing to the plot. If those scenes didn't exist, or if they were less graphic. Would those shows still be as good as they are now. I think so. Maybe even better. 

Now before people label me with a innacurately homophobic take, I would like to counter that feminist and others have made the same complaint about gratuitous female nudity in scenes that are irrelevant or unnecessary to the quality of a show. 

For example, HBO's Game of thrones has been considered guilty of too much TNA just for the sake of TNA. Other shows have been cast as guilty of torture porn, or gratuitous blood and gore. Some people have sensibilities that find many of these things disturbing. I am one of them. 

When I am looking for entertainment, in the form of film or television. I am here for the story. Good writing and good acting are my main priority. Action scenes, musical score, cinematic C.G.I. and Special effects are secondary. Even though those things are often done well and are aesthetically pleasing, they are not important enough to care about if the story is poor. If the story is great, those things just add to the quality presentation. 

Some people like love scenes more than others. In certain stories, the sex scenes are at the center of the plot and in others they are insignificant. In some films, the audience can be informed that two characters are having sex by simply showing them entering a bedroom and closing the door. A voyeuristic view into the bedroom is not needed. Ok, some may think that this is too boring, however, if the story is great, many will not care. 

As a person of color, and a Foundation Black American man, I do care about the images of people who look like me on the big screen. There was a push to get more diverse roles for black people in Hollywood for years. We have all heard and seen the change. Recently movies have started to include more black judges, generals, Presidents, Doctors, lawyers and scientists. 

This is beneficial to society even if movie makers have been forced, shamed, or reluctantly coerced into doing it. Others may have seen it as a good business decision or even just following the trend. By no means do I believe that movie makers have given better roles to black actors out of compassion or concern for the global image of black people. To be clear, I am speaking about the bosses, who run the movie studios and finance the films, not necessarily the writers and directors.

I believe that white guilt has caused an overcorrection in many areas. In their eyes, it is not good enough to be kind and respectful of other people's feelings. Instead, they feel they need to make up for the centuries of discrimination and bigotry. How do they do this? By a whole lot of symbolic gestures. Gestures like putting black people in films with prominent positions. While this may be beneficial symbolically, it does not improve the quality of life of an average black man or woman. This allows some white folks to slide away on some critical issues while pointing to a specific image and using that as a symbol to argue that things have changed. Therefore, we should all stop complaining.

I believe as in so many areas of the world. The Gay agenda, has replaced and surpassed the black agenda. It's seems as if these same descendants of bigots, have suddenly realized that they need to treat gay people better. So it becomes a large dose of overcorrection aimed toward the LGBT community. So now Hollywood has oversaturated us with prominent gay characters, many of whom are black men. There is also an extremely long list of black men who have put on a dress, wigs and make-up to look like a woman on screen. These things are related, and I believe in my gut that they have sinister intent.

Let's take for example that rich white men, who classify themselves as gay, can now cry out for sympathy and even enact legislation to protect their interests. Some of these people are direct descendants of slave holding millionaires and their alleged sexual preference allows them to skip the line over folks who's ancestors were legally enslaved, segregated, and kidnapped. Many were not allowed to vote or receive their desired level of education. Many more were denied housing and loans or had their land taken from them. Sometimes this land was taken by the same people whose children are now skipping that line. And to add a final injury to all of this insult, many of these black people have been unjustly killed or wrongfully imprisoned by the criminal justice system. They are sent to private prisons to work for crumbs, giving free labor to corporations owned or invested in by the same gay white millionaires claiming to be a protected class of victims. 

Ok, I started this conversation talking about a Netflix show and how that ties in to all of this. It doesn't. It is just to give you context as to why some people in the black community look side-eyed towards the LGBT movement. The bracelets, the parades, the awards and shouts of courage and praise that are showered over them. These are all legitimate concerns that a reasonable person could have without a hint of bigotry or hate. Remember, it is white folks who feel obligated to distance themselves from their parents obviously, documented racism, sexism, and homophobia. Not I. I know in my heart and mind that I have never participated in any acts of hate against this community. I have never been violent, used hurtful words, or even voted for someone who might have impinged their civil rights. However, being critical of this movement or even disinterested is now viewed by some as being politically incorrect, bigotry or grounds for cancellation.

This is not fair and the LGBT community would do itself a disservice if they did not identify and expose the difference between a legitimate criticism and dangerous hate speech.  

But the Netflix show - seven seconds. 

The two gay characters never shared a scene together. There was no kissing, hand holding or oral and anal penetration scenes. And without it, the story still works. It works very well. The audience still feels the emotional impact of these lovers and their struggle without seeing them Fuck. 

Remember this is entertainment. Not real life. I am here for my own enjoyment. Anything that I do not enjoy, I have the right to turn off or be turned off. Seeing two men naked is not entertaining to me at all, and there is nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean I hate gays, it just means that I don't want to see them Fuck on tv. This is not hate. This is a natural response from a heterosexual man, who does not watch porn, twerk videos or go to strip clubs. These things simply do not entertain me, whether I think they are gross or not. It doesn't mean I hate strippers or porn stars. It doesn't mean that I'm not attracted to women or love to have sex. It just means that my entertainment preference is a good story, rather than watching naked women tease me. In fact there are many people that I love, whom I would never want to see have sex. So once again, if I do not enjoy seeing naked men, This is not hate. 

The Gay community has adopted June as pride month and the rainbow as their symbol. These things are far less serious, but bother me as well. June is one of the greatestest months of the year. June reminds me of Fathers Day, the beginning of summer, High School graduation, and the NBA finals. And now Juneteenth has been added to the calendar. Yet, black people have the month of February, which seems like a metaphor for everything I have been feeling. We are given the shortest month, a cold month. A month that has Presidents Day, Valentine's Day, and the Super Bowl. Not as impressive. And not particularly black.

Black people have been given the symbol of a black fist or an Afro pick. These symbols are fine, yet not as beautiful, majestic or pure as the rainbow. 

My preference is that the gatekeepers greenlight films that will be done more classy. Less Assy. I have to keep my finger close to the fast forward button because I can not unsee disturbing images. Even sex scenes between two women, or a man and woman mostly do not interest me, and some of those scenes gross me out as well. I would guess that some members of the LGBT community would agree with me. I would guess that some of them also prefer not to see gratuitous gay or straight sex in their entertainment. 

So Seven seconds did the story well without a fast forward moment of shock. I think there should be a new trigger warning on the rating system. That is TV MA Mature Audiences. Language, Sexual Situations, Nudity, Violence, Gore, Rape, Torture, Child Or Elderly Abuse, Domestic Violence, Animal Cruelty, War and Slaughter, and Gay Sex.