How We See Ourselves

embracing the badass

One of the things I really like about LoveCraft Country is that the interiors remind me of being in the homes of my older family members and neighbors. The immaculate rooms, the refined furnishings. Contrast that with the images of Black life that were portrayed on television, the news, print media of the time. The images we were fed were that of lack and despair. We weren’t allowed to see the image of Black people being badass, sarcastic, nerdy, complex. We were only allowed ONE depiction, one lens, one version when we were doing so much more. 

You know, I gotta be honest, I saw Dolemite years ago and purchased the DVD because I thought this was an important part of Black history and because of my interest in Black Exploitation films. See, I didn’t know that Rudy Ray Moore was being self deprecating with his Dolemite character. Dolemite was a character and not a personality. Okay, so how does this relate to Lovecraft Country? Like this, Dolemite wasn’t respectable. Even though this was a character, not a person, we were creating images directed at a white gaze and not a Black gaze. What would life be like if we weren’t shackled to respectability? What stories would we be able to hear? I mean this in a global sense. As we become more and more connected by social media and we begin to actually see each other, I believe, deep in every particle of my being, that we will be in harmony with each other.