[lbo-talk] blacks about as morally conservative as Republicans

[Philip Pilkington]

I don't even understand why there was uncertainty surrounding this issue.
Anyone with any knowledge of contemporary black culture would know how laden
with homophobia it is. I mean does anyone even watch The Wire? That should
have cleared the whole thing up. Here's an interview with the cast in which
the character who played Omar recounts, quite openly, his experiences of
homophobia and how it "astounds him how much this gets overlooked" (although
you'd be forgiven to sometimes suspect that this is willful):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/26/television.culture2

*
*

*Omar Little*
Played by Michael K Williams

If The Wire is a cult, Omar Little is a cult within a cult. The laconic
stick-up man is one of the show's most popular characters, especially
amongst its real-life gangster fans. That a violent fictional criminal has
become a thugs' pin-up might not surprise you... except Omar also happens to
be gay.

"In my community, growing up in Brooklyn, in the projects, homophobia is
part of the culture," says Michael K Williams. "And it astounds me how that
just got overlooked. Omar is not going to be remembered for who he went to
bed with. That's such a small part of who we are as human beings anyway.
People are more concerned with whether they're in the way of his shotgun."

Alternatively you could stick on an NWA record or something. I mean I'm not
saying that every black guy is a homophobe, but it does seem to permeate the
culture...