Hyper-agressive, Hyper-sexualized: the American Black Man

Okay, we're back from the longest hiatus in history. And the beginning fodder is the Lebron and Gisele Vogue cover. On first glance I never saw nay issue with the way they looked. But, upon closer inspection and discussion with my pal Howard, I came to the realization that the picture makes real an idea that pervades the American psyche: The Black man is an overly-sexual, beast that wants to ravage the demure, pure White woman. Where did this come from? Why is it so pervasive? Does it go back to slavery? I would think it is the other way around, the super-sexual White men and the (formerly) powerless Black woman. How is it that things happen to be turned around to vindicate the oppressors, and to indict the oppressed? That is a result of living in, to quote My Fav Professor, a society where Whites are culturally hegemonic! He would also call it the received culture of White supremacy, meaning that the society is built upon the ideal that Whites know best and are necessary for the proper functioning of society. It would also explain the odd (yet not so odd) infatuation that Blacks have with features of White culture, such as straight hair, lighter skin, and sharper, smaller facial features (mainly noses these days, seeing as they are buying bigger lips).
But to get back to where we started, what is up with that cover? I tried to look at it as portraying them as they would look if they were doing their careers, and that could be an argument...but not one I'm buying. I guess we could act like the connotations don't exist, but I have learned that there is no way the producers of the cover didn't think long and hard about the reactions to the picture. They calculated how much this would stir things up, and they were counting on it. They were fully aware of the mega-spectacle that would accompany the publishing of this photo and they were banking on it; I must admit that they were smart to do it! There are so many examples of society not only accepting this portrayal of Black men, but applauding it: Denzel Washington received an Academy Award for Best Actor after he portrayed a corrupt (Black) police officer trying to corrupt the pure-hearted (White)rookie, during the 1988 Presidential campaign Bush (Sr) used the portrait of Willie Horton to scare Americans into voting for him (although Horton was a murderer, look at the video and you'll be able to see that the Bush (Sr) focussed on Black man, but not the others that were also given passes), or look at the Jesse Helms Senatorial Campaign Video.