It's weird because I see black gay characters on television all the time, but do I relate to them? Not always, because they're set pieces.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the lack of authentic representation of black gay characters in media.
Lena Waithe expresses a feeling of disconnection with black gay characters portrayed on television, suggesting that while they may be visible, they are often not relatable or fully developed, instead serving merely as set pieces rather than complex individuals with genuine stories. This highlights the broader issue of representation in media, where diversity may be present, but true representation and depth can often be lacking.
In practice
During a panel discussion on diversity in media.
As a black woman in the industry, you really do have to hold your head higher, stick your chest out, be kind and polite and generous even when you don't want to be sometimes. I learned that and, also, just to never take no for an answer.
Being a black lesbian myself, I roll my eyes a little bit when I see black lesbian characters on shows where it's purely there for decoration. You can just hear it in the writers room... 'What if we make her a lesbian?'
The cool thing about dope black style becoming in style is that the industry has no choice but to try and reduplicate that.
For me, it's about making art that's not good but phenomenal. James Baldwin didn't want to just stay above the fray. Prince didn't think, 'I wonder what the industry is gonna think about 'Purple Rain.'' It's just, is this honest? Is this real? Does this move me? The rest is icing.
Being born gay, black, and female is not a revolutionary act. Being proud to be a gay black female is.
I don't want to be white. I don't want to be straight. I don't want to blend in.
With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.
The telling of stories, like singing and praying, would seem to be an almost ceremonial act, an ancient and necessary mode of speech that tends the earthly rootedness of human language. For narrated events always happen somewhere. And for an oral culture, that location is never merely incidental to those occurrences. The events belong, as it were, to the place, and to tell the story of those events is to let the place itself speak through the telling.
When everything is added up, the frequent blows weighted against the sporadic triumphs, this is I have to say not just a vocation, it's a great gift. But you also know this, for your work, for your passion, every day is a rededication. Painters, dancers, actors, writers, filmmakers. It's the same for all of you, all of us. Every step is a first step. Every brush stroke is a test. Every scene is a lesson. Every shot is a school. So, let the learning continue.
I think of myself as a jungle musician because of my lack of formal training.
When I'm dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance.
Perhaps the meaning of all human activity lies in the artistic consciousness, in the pointless and selfless creative act? Perhaps our capacity to create is evidence that we ourselves were created in the image and likeness of God?
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