Walking along the Tube recently I saw a Poster, of a Fair Skin Man, with a big smile on his face, in a plumme of feathers. Not being a time management sort of man I thought " Oh I see, it's an advert for GAY Pride". However on second glance it was the poster for the Notting Hill Carnival.:P

Fine.

Not long back reading some of the Black Newpapers, I read about how the Homosexual Activist Peter Thatchell was leading a boycott of Beenie man, trying to stage an arrest.

On the news today I see that MOBO, has banned any Black Music Artists that has homophobic lyrics.

In the last two weeks, I have seen African Carribbean Producers make programmes with titles that encourge me to switch over the channel rather than be "informed". Those "Producers" were making programmes that would cause an absolute outrage if they were White, sort of like "well, I am Black so I am being objective"

My views on the Problems within the black community, inter racial strife or homophobic views within our community are in this post neither here nor there.

The crux of the matterfor me is , that an Orwellian Newspeak seems to be insidiously pouring into our Community and attempting to dictate what we as a community should find acceptable or unacceptable. A sort of an attempt to bring the African & Caribbean Community into "Line" with Popularist Left wing and Right wing Mainstream thinking.

In plain language: Who the F*uck is taking a Pop at our Culture without our permission???

Who the F*uck is going to stick their neck out and draw a line in what our culture finds acceptable or unacceptable? confused3

Ah but we have been here before. When the White man cometh he told us we were all Pagans, savages and that we should turn to Christianity for salvation - or Education at least. Having discarded our African religions, and moral values and rush to the Church society of the White Man has changed the goal posts yet again. Now we have a whole generation older and born again who are being made to feel out of step with the mainstream morality with turncoats firing shots left right and centre at our community.blktype

African Diasporian culture is a complex and ubiquitious phenomen that is constaintly under siege from the host nations prevailing culture, and whilst we are not as unified as other minority communities unless we have a voice and start publicily i.e in the other Media an alternative voice will not be heard.

@Dada said"The crux of the matter for me is , that an Orwellian Newspeak seems to be insidiously pouring into our Community and attempting to dictate what we as a community should find acceptable or unacceptable. A sort of an attempt to bring the African & Caribbean Community into "Line" with Popularist Left wing and Right wing Mainstream thinking".

That's the truth my brother. I called it the new postmodern orthodoxy, which is more directed at us, Africans than anybody else. We are expected to comply with any new white agenda they come up with. And futhermore I saw this coming long time ago and wrote about it.

So everybody who wants a ruck willl come chucking it on us. The word is out big time, blacks are soft and can't fight back. I mean I don't watch soaps etc but when I heard the brother on that programme last week say something my wife has being going berserk about long time.

About the number of black men portrayed as homosexual. She can list them. For example there is one on the programme "The Sheild", one on "Spin City", the brother mentioned a couple in footballer's wife masturbating over a picture of a white man. There was one on "Gimme Gimme Gimme". My wife knows them by heart. Then there is the blind man on "Becker" which I actually do watch. All disabled and de masculined men and that fenky prick in that Halifax adverts..

No men like me and you my brother and that is not an over-cite.

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@ Dada

You have made some interesting and very pertinent points here. It all links in with the whole issue about portrayal of the African man in the mass media. If they are not showing him as some sub-human, criminally oriented beast, they are showing him in situations that directly conflict with any real notions of ‘masculinity’, thereby subjugating him to a position of weakness and ineffectiveness. Not only that but there are more and more images (and this is something I have been commenting on for sometime now) showing African women in ‘relationship’ situations with white men. This is the corollary to painting the African man as ‘less than a man’; portraying his woman as more in harmony in the company of men other than him. Think about it, in adverts and soaps (though I refuse to watch those darn things) images of male/female relationships will feature white on white (quite understandable in a society where they are the numerically dominant race) or white on black…….seldom black on black. If anything black on black relationships when featured are dysfunctional or fraught with problems. The whole thing is quite insidious.

Your comment need to be reiterated:
�African Diasporian culture is a complex and ubiquitous phenomena that is constantly under siege from the host nations prevailing culture, and whilst we are not as unified as other minority communities unless we have a voice and start publicly i.e. in the other Media an alternative voice will not be heard.�

@ Fredblack
In the same way in the 70’s/80’s that the portrayal of African men in films and TV predominantly as pimps and drug dealers (and African women as prostitutes) set in stone those stereotypes, I wonder how long before this new portrayal will be the stereotype. What gets me is that African people in large numbers choose to watch this stuff. Since why is something like ‘East Enders’ or ‘Coronation Street’ representative of African culture or family values? If we continue to ‘support’ these programs like docile sheep what grounds have we got for complaining about the way they make us look?

Incidentally, on the point of that Halifax advert. Isn’t it interested how after showing the actual guy for many of the initial adverts (making him into a national icon for the company), they now use a ‘characterture’ (spelling) of him? And who is going to take that moronic looking figure seriously?

Respect

Thank you both for you quality responses. I have been on holiday - the holiday after the holiday syndrome- which is why I have responded, still on holiday.

Yes both of you are right in the deconstruction of the African Man in the Western Media. The incident with Henry Bonsu was a perfect case in point. Being fired for being too intellectual. It sort of says it all.

I am not and never will - for the moment anyhow- advocate a militant sort of backlash but certainly an intellectual one that reconstructs the African Man in Western society.

Still sunning it up in North Africa at the moment. But will log in on this and other debates.

@ Dada, Fredblack, Backatya

Dada - “Who the F*uck is taking a Pop at our Culture without our permission??? Who the F*uck is going to stick their neck out and draw a line in what our culture finds acceptable or unacceptable?�

Fredblack - “word is out big time, blacks are soft and can't fight back.�

Backatya – “If we continue to ‘support’ these programs like docile sheep what grounds have we got for complaining about the way they make us look?�

Standing ovation to you brothers, perfect analysis. clp)

There is this a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

Dada said - I am not and never will - for the moment anyhow- advocate a militant sort of backlash but certainly an intellectual one that reconstructs the African Man in Western society.

Agreed. But there will come a moment in the lives of all Africans when we will have to accept that singing ‘we shall overcome’ no longer works.

Respect

@Dada

ever wondered why that programme was called Trouble with black men but it was more about Afr0-carribeans..did u ever wonder where are the Africans? dont they have problems as well?

dont u think we are victims of divide and rule?

Sorry i personally am novictim of Whiteman's divide and rule. Everyone regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, gender, class etc is different.

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