Since the dawn of time, white supremacy has tried its hardest to paint Black men in an unfavorable light. From ridiculous stereotypes in the media to mediocre storytelling attempting to portray us as sub-humans, the tactics have been asinine at best. The beauty about taking back our narrative and telling it as it is, is that we get to debunk those insidious messages that have been ingrained in our community for centuries. Thankfully, we have Tina Knowles-Lawson doing that through Profiled: The Black Man, the docuseries that she executive produces alongside its creator Trell Thomas. This program, brought to viewers by Discovery Plus and The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), dives into those insidious stereotypes by combating them through real-life testimonials from prominent Black men, all the while confronting the harmful narratives that threaten to destroy the perception of us. This game-changing series will hopefully pave the way for the importance of more storytelling that punctures the poisonous balloon of misinformation that is constantly fed to our impressionable minds.
1. Black love is not a myth.
One of the most delightful qualities of Black love is its authenticity. This docuseries takes us on several intimate journeys between Black men and their spouses as they go through trials and tribulations. Black love has always been a form of resistance in our community and will continue to be.
2. Black love can transcend generations.
Many of us have older couples in our families who have been together for more than 30 years, but the same can be said for couples in younger generations. While we love gushing over the love our grandparents still share after being together for decades, that love is just as pure as our cousin who recently married his college sweetheart.
3. Black fatherhood is beautiful.
Unfortunately, there is an abundance of toxic messaging in the world that paints Black men to be absent fathers, and this can’t be further from the truth. Black fatherhood is just as impactful as Black motherhood, with both coexisting with one another to produce healthy, healed children.
4. Black men do show their emotions.
Black men do cry, period. Social media fodder along with general propaganda will so casually describe us as callous, cold beings who don’t show vulnerability to our loved ones, but that isn’t the case at all. Profiled: The Black Man shows the reality of a multitude of Black men who have no qualms about expressing their feelings to those around them.
5. We must continue to fight harmful stereotypes about our community.
This docuseries in itself is a form of rebellion against the status quo that has so confidently attempted to paint our storylines and narratives for us. If we are ever going to eradicate white supremacy, we need more programming like this to challenge the many untrue and unfair myths about the Black community.
If you haven’t seen this series yet, we encourage you to do so, because if we want to see dynamic storytelling like this continue, we must support it.
