He believed that death, alongside ridicule, was a possibility for being a carefree black boy. The writer argued that freedom was allowed only to men who'd amassed wealth and fame. Last June, the Huffington Post published a piece that critiqued the carefree black boy movement. I don’t want to suggest that freedom comes without consequence. A man choosing to do his own thing, to slice through a sea of sameness, is nothing more than a bold stance of defiance, a claim of independence. It isn’t gay for any man to wear a dress, nor is it gay for a man to dance or bleach his hair. And who knows what it may take Jaden to get the world to reckon with his individuality, but shouldn’t we support him either way? It’s time we permitted the same carefreeness we do to those who are unbound by the limits of society to our black men and boys. It took Odell a fight on the field and a vicious helmet snatch to quiet those who challenged his masculinity. Enraged with my decision and my condition, as it was then described, I was awakened from my sleep by my stepfather - he'd burned me with an iron. I happily arrived home that day with a new schedule, forgoing military training - which, I was told, would be good for me - for an economics course, and decided to take a nap. I was 17 and had recently decided to not sign up for JROTC, the junior army program offered to students. The clearest memory I have of being caged came in 2011, two years after my friendship with Warren began to dissolve. There were times when I wasn’t allowed to be free. By most categorizations, a prized man is typically strong and solid, a vision of comfort and sturdiness, the care-taker, the provider, but never free. We'd rather grind them into muscles and fervor, snatching them of expression and thought. Another Instagram user, motivation_needed_, said just a few lines below: “.the photo it looks feminine and they’re not females nor are they gay so why do they need to look feminine?” Chef cheeba added: “Y’all gay asf.” When our black men appear vulnerable, well mannered, or delicate, we dismiss them into a realm of questioned sexuality.
“The goals of the media is to feminize black men,” leylathickfit wrote in the comments of an Instagram post by The Shade Room, referring to the cover image. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler seemed to be showing for one another in an image from Vanity Fair.Įven just last week, on the occasion of FADER’s Summer Music cover - which depicts Rae Sremmurd’s Jxmmi resting on Swae Lee’s shoulder - the brothers were attacked for looking soft.
In March, critics condemned the affection actor Michael B. Or when Drake spoke a bit too highly of Lil Wayne and was greeted with raised eyebrows. Lest we forget the time Kanye donned a Givenchy kilt and was publicly chided for it. Or maybe there was a time you found a friend singing too loudly to Beyoncé’s “Flawless” and, even if only for a moment, doubted him.
In high school, depending on where you grew up, this might have been the black kid who wore his pants too tight. This happens frequently: a man does something - anything - that diverts from the norm and is lambasted for it. Similarly, when Jaden Smith became the face of Louis Vuitton’s SS 2016 campaign in an exquisite skirt and mesh top, he was, again, deemed gay. Like other men who wear their masculinity freely, he was thrust into the realm of suspect. Every movement Odell made was scrutinized. Clips of his playful pirouettes, loose-hipped Whips and Nae Naes circulated across Twitter and Facebook timelines, spreading like wildfire. In January, a compilation video of him dancing appeared on YouTube. In some circles, the pro-footballer is better known for his hair and animated dance moves than he is for his stats as an all-star New York Giants wide receiver.