Reflections on the Black Messiah

I struggle to go back and forth with how I should approach watching films about Black people. I’ve spent so much of the better part of my life as a journalist looking to find the best portrayal in Hollywood of our people. I professed at one point how Black Panther was inspiring and a transformational moment right here on this blog almost exactly three years ago. I kept looking and seeking for my perspectives in products that I thought were meant for me…

That’s where I begin to realize my perspectives: “meant for me.” Is any of this stuff meant for me? What is the purpose of me consuming media created by someone with an agenda, and created for propagandizing us?

This all comes into context since I just finished watching Judas and the Black Messiah, a film centered around the Black FBI informant who spied on Fred Hampton. I watched it, and I came to the simple straightforward conclusion that it was not for me, and it certainly was not for Black folks.

Dr. Jared Ball, a professor of communication studies at Morgan State and author of a personal favorite book The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, has this unique media philosophy called “The Vernon Philosophy of Black Media Avoidance.” In short, he argues that Black folks, or any oppressed/marginalized group, should not look for themselves in commercial products because Hollywood in…