Media Depections of Black Men & Black Love

Here we go. These dating shows of seemingly somewhat thirsty for love singles are all over my television and I don’t even have cable. Love is Blind on Netflix is the latest train wreck. It puts a group of single men and women in the same but separated location. The idea is to find a love match to marry in 6 weeks without seeing the person first. The singles  “date” through divided rooms called pods. By day 6 there are face to face meetings and the proposals. The couples are then whisked away to an all inclusive vacation in Mexico to determine if they should have sex and decide to continue on the journey to marriage in a month. 

​Now stay with me because this is all a bit convoluted. So the casting of the show starts with five black women and two black men. By the end there are two black women and one black man in a sea of Caucasias and two Latins. Therefore, one of the black women matches up with a white male. Of course, because production could not have had more black men in which would have most likely allowed selection of a black woman. Yes, someone will say that the black men could have selected white women and the one remaining black man who selected a black woman could have ended up with a white woman. Right sure, only if media promoted interracial couples wihere the man is black with a 20 something porcelain white woman with hair extenstions. Instead the show casting selected a black man that is fluid, i.e.:pansexual who selects a hetero/sis-gender black female for which the sexualy fluid black male decides to spring his sexual identity on the stright black female after he put a ring on it! Of course this news hits her with a bit of pause. She was not only faced with the actual news, but that her soon to be husband had time to be honest several times before his tearful exclamation at the resort. She tried to have a heartfelt conversation about the situation when he got in his feelings, telling her that other women haven't had issues with his sexuality, therefore why should she… and hey at least he was honest. GTFOOH. 

Now having had the tough conversation, dude proceeds to not take rejection well. Not only did he call her a bitch, he also talked about how her unglued lace front wig had been sliding back on her head the entire time since their meeting. Yet, this was the same dude that got on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage. It all was so ratchet. Lets not sit and watch this and not think the producers/show runners/casting did not have knowledge of the sexuality issue prior to filming. Who’s idea was it to hold off on honest communication? Did they really cast two black males, one of which is fluid and expect whomever he was matched with to just be 100% cool with his past experiences and present fluidity? Then, the couples all meet on the beach for dinner not knowing they are all there at the same resort. Not once did the couples ask about the other two people’s whereabouts nor did show hostess Vanessa Lachey address it. Everyone knew they picked each other. At that point, the show seems beyond the fakery that the premise presents. What happened to the other man and the remaining four black women? Did they just not match or where the connections not cringe-worthy enough for “reality tv”? Sad that Netflix fell into the media bigotry that rejects images of healthy black on black love. The deck was stacked from the opening scene in the vein of The Hills or some other show where the participants drive up to the location looking optimistic yet lost and disingenuous,