On the interminable commute on the 405 yesterday I was treated to a new statistic about AIDS infection in Washington DC. It has reached something on the order of 213 per 10k which is, apparently obscenely high as compared with the rest of the US. I could imagine that this could be a K Street phenomenon, but like most Americans, I think that the racial stereotype applies. In other words, this is black Washington DC.
In my life, I've only known one person to die of AIDS, and he went to his grave practically in the closet. The conventional wisdom is that 'the' black community is particularly harsh on gays and treats AIDS more like the 'gay plague' than the real threat to public health that it is. Part and parcel of that conventional wisdom is that the solution to HIV/AIDS in 'the' black community is a fundamentally different mission than in the rest of America.
How seriously are we to take the idea the African Americans, by and large, need their own cable channel to be reached?
Are we so in the dark about what goes on in the country? Are we so immune to any video or television show that doesn't feature black characters? Do we in fact actually ignore messages that are not tailored with African Americans specifically in mind at our own peril?
I'm not one of those guys who spends a lot of time worrying about black images in media. That's primarily because I'm more literature oriented. I have been thinking a little bit about black cultural production and consumption though. This is particularly related to my recent trips to downtown LA. The first, featuring the Mark Morris dance troupe I wrote about here, and the other I haven't blogged. The short end of it was that I dug a concert of Brahms and Dvorák last Friday by the LA Phil. I wasn't particularly counting African American noses but there were somewhere between 3 and 12, not counting those of me and the Spousal Unit in the packed house. My excuse is simple. I'm hungry. I couldn't imagine a life without hiphop and classical, but neither is enough solo. Gotta have both and more. I couldn't just read African American literature alone, nor would I be satisfied with only Latino cuisine.
But what is the presumption about the hungers of the average Joe? Do we assume, given our variety of choices, that everybody is entitled to their own ethnic channel, or that we all pay attention to the mainstream whether or not our particular flavor is represented? If the former, do we assume that if the message isn't spiced properly that nobody cares, or that some discrimination is afoot?
I seem to recall some WW2 propaganda from my Bugs Bunny years. At the end of every important message was the phrase: This Means You. Maybe that's what more Americans need to assume.
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