Did Black Love Week showcase all Black love?

Hosts senior public health science major Pride Kwekam (left) and senior computer science major Kofi Owusu-Mensah, (right), introduce bachelorette junior criminology major Elikia Kam on stage at the Black Student Union’s Love Island charity date auction

The month of February puts love on the brain and Black students at UMD are using the time to showcase Black love. 

The Black Student Union (BSU) hosted Black Love Week this past week with events celebrating Black love. However, with an entire week dedicated to recognizing Black relationships, the events seemed to struggle in representing all Black love.

Showcasing Black relationships is essential to ensuring they are accurately represented, especially when some students feel that the media fail to fill that role.

 “I think they [media] like to focus on what gets the most clicks and views which comes from what people assume about Black people. That they aren’t capable of having a positive relationship,” said freshman Dylan Thomas. And while representing these relationships is undoubtedly important, these events failed to include a community that often goes unrecognized in most representations of love: the LGBTQ+ community.

Black relationships are widely underrepresented in the media, however, Black LGBTQ+ relationships are even less so and often criticized when portrayed. Characters like Phastos, a gay and Black superhero from Marvel’s movie Eternals last November, received backlash for the character’s inclusion in the movie. Representation of Black LGBTQ+ relationships are just as important as their heterosexual counterparts. While Black Love Week did not exclude these relationships, no events actively included them either.

One of the most notable events of Black Love Week was the charity Love Auction. This was a time for bidders to bid on their fellow students with the hopes of taking them on a date. The way the event worked was the hosts would bring the bachelor or bachelorette on stage, where they would introduce themselves by answering a few questions and the bidders would shout how much money they were willing to donate. It was a very successful event with bids going as high as $200 for students. The event organizers were adamant that the event did not limit people’s bids based on gender.

“This particular function that we're hosting does offer the opportunity for people to bid on more than one gender. This will be an event that allows for people to bid to who their attracted to and that won’t be limited by heterosexual norms,” said freshman business major and BSU’s Freshman Council Vice President Mason Minus.

However, when a bachelor or bachelorette was on stage, the hosts engaged in questions with the audience that were exclusively heteronormative. Questions pointed towards the audience such as “Ladies, what should a man do on the first date?” and towards bachelors asked “how would you treat a lady on a first date?” reinforcing the notion that Black love is straight.

Black Love Week has the potential to be a celebration of all Black love, but to do that requires remembering the diversity within the Black community. It means holding discussions surrounding LGBTQ+ topics, inviting members of the Black LGBTQ+ community to the table and not only being welcoming of LGBTQ+ relationships, but inclusive of them.