The problem is that we have certain forces who want to define black men on the screen. There are black women and gay black men who want straight black males to be "fiiiiine" but only beholden to black women and gay black males to a lesser extent. They don't even want the black guys to be found attractive to non-black women, especially the white ladies. If that starts to happen or even worse if a black actor is discovered to have a non-black girlfriend or wife, they will rip into him.
Another group are the straight black men who sign off on anything black women and gay black men do.
And then there are another group of straight, black mofos who refer to themselves and all black men as "niggas." These dudes have a limited view of what a black male can be. If a black guy isn't shown to be hard, rough and street-like, they consider him to be a fraud, an impostor they have no use for. There is no room for a black guy to be sensitive or interested in things that are not stereotypically associated with African American interest. And if he pursues a white girl he is mocked as being "corny" or a "coon." These guys don't march to the beat of black women or black gays but their thoughts about black men are just as limited.
All of these groups, all of these forces, want to put black men in a box. The goal for those of us who want something more for black men should be to: 1)reach out to the black guys who don't fit in any of these groups and encourage them to be more vocal in determining the presentation of black males, 2)to peel away a number of folks, those that can be reasoned with, from the groups I mentioned above to our corner and 3)to find allies outside of black people, or African Americans specifically, who are open to black males gaining more opportunities instead of piling on more restraints; non-black people who aren't poisoned by the dangerous ideas of the AA community in so far as what black men are ALLOWED to be.
