Affirmations (film)
Encyclopedia
Affirmations is a ten minute short film exploring black gay sexuality as well as the inclusion of black gays in the black community. The film was produced by Marlon Riggs
and released in 1990.
Affirmations moves from Jackson’s story to Harlem’s African American Freedom Day. African American Freedom Day is a parade celebrating African American tradition. Affirmations documentation of the parade begins with mainstream images of Black culture. Drums, flutes and African American war veterans are all shown marching down the street in the parade. Portraits of Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass
and Malcolm X
are filmed floating down the center of the parade. Then a group of gay, black men come down the parade line. They are shouting, “Homophobia has to go!”
They are followed by the Minority Task Force on AIDS. The film then documents a black man yelling at the pro-gay African American group from the side of the street. He screams, “You are not part of the African tradition.”
The following messages are then displayed in text on the screen: I dream a world where homosex, desire, affection, love, no longer invite prosecution. I dream an end to silences that kill. I dream a slave song, a freedom anthem, voices, ancient, yet alive, lifting my life, yours, to new visions of liberation. I dream freedom, no longer needing to ask or witness what happens to dreams deferred?
As the text fades out the film concludes with gay African Americans expressing their dreams for kinship and the right to be included in the Black community. While they reveal their wishes, Hallelujah! plays in the background.
During the African American Freedom Parade images of Malcolm X
are shown alongside Martin L. King Jr. and Frederick Douglas. Although Marlon T. Riggs has often criticized the Black Nationalist agenda for excluding queerness from blackness, in his essay Black Macho Revisited Marlon T. Riggs defends Malcolm X
after he got involved with the Nation of Islam for adopting a more multicultural view of the black community.
Marlon T. Riggs has often questioned how the black community, which was subject to exclusion from the white community for generations, could exclude its queer members. In Affirmations Marlon T. Riggs uses phrases commonly associated with the Black Civil Rights Movement (Langston Hughes
’ “dreams deferred” or Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”). This demonstrates to the audience that the struggles Blacks went through parallels the struggles queer African Americans are going through.
Marlon Riggs
Marlon Troy Riggs was a gay African-American filmmaker, educator, poet, and gay rights activist. He produced, wrote, and directed several television documentaries, including Ethnic Notions, Tongues Untied, Color Adjustment, and Black Is. ....
and released in 1990.
Production Team
| Produced, Directed and Written by | Marlon T. Riggs |
| Edited by | Christiane Badgley |
| Featuring | Reginald T. Jackson and Gay Men of African Descent |
| Voices | R. Battle, Blackberri, Michael Bell, Essex Hemphill Essex Hemphill Essex Hemphill was an American poet and activist. He was a 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts.-Biography:Essex Hemphill was born April 16, 1957 in Chicago and died on November 4, 1995 of AIDS-related complications... , Wayson Jones, David B. Kirkland, Alan Miller, Cornelius Moore, Colin Robinson, Britt Tennell, Donald Wodds |
Synopsis
Affirmations begins with a gay, black man recounting his first night with a lover. The man’s name is Reginald T. Jackson. The story begins with Jackson sitting at a bar. The man sitting next to him wanted to pick him up, but Jackson did not want to go. When the man began to cry as he remembered a past lover, Jackson gave in and allowed himself to go home with the other man. They ended up making love the next morning. Jackson says, “It was the best experience I have ever had.”Affirmations moves from Jackson’s story to Harlem’s African American Freedom Day. African American Freedom Day is a parade celebrating African American tradition. Affirmations documentation of the parade begins with mainstream images of Black culture. Drums, flutes and African American war veterans are all shown marching down the street in the parade. Portraits of Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman. After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing...
and Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
are filmed floating down the center of the parade. Then a group of gay, black men come down the parade line. They are shouting, “Homophobia has to go!”
They are followed by the Minority Task Force on AIDS. The film then documents a black man yelling at the pro-gay African American group from the side of the street. He screams, “You are not part of the African tradition.”
The following messages are then displayed in text on the screen: I dream a world where homosex, desire, affection, love, no longer invite prosecution. I dream an end to silences that kill. I dream a slave song, a freedom anthem, voices, ancient, yet alive, lifting my life, yours, to new visions of liberation. I dream freedom, no longer needing to ask or witness what happens to dreams deferred?
As the text fades out the film concludes with gay African Americans expressing their dreams for kinship and the right to be included in the Black community. While they reveal their wishes, Hallelujah! plays in the background.
Analysis
Marlon T. Riggs wrote in his essay “Tongues Retied”, which defended his documentary Tongues Untied, that his works “unabashedly celebrate” African American gay culture. This cannot be denied with Reginald T. Jackson’s recount of the first time he made love with another man. Jackson is in no way embarrassed to share his first experience making love with another man. It is, in affect, “normalizing” the gay experience.During the African American Freedom Parade images of Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
are shown alongside Martin L. King Jr. and Frederick Douglas. Although Marlon T. Riggs has often criticized the Black Nationalist agenda for excluding queerness from blackness, in his essay Black Macho Revisited Marlon T. Riggs defends Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
after he got involved with the Nation of Islam for adopting a more multicultural view of the black community.
Marlon T. Riggs has often questioned how the black community, which was subject to exclusion from the white community for generations, could exclude its queer members. In Affirmations Marlon T. Riggs uses phrases commonly associated with the Black Civil Rights Movement (Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
’ “dreams deferred” or Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”). This demonstrates to the audience that the struggles Blacks went through parallels the struggles queer African Americans are going through.