Insensitive or Too Sensitive

LeBron James made history earlier this month by being the first African-American male to grace the cover of Vogue Magazine. Unfortunately for him, his cover debut was received with criticism as some argue that it’s both racially insensitive and promotes racial stereotypes. LeBron is joined on the cover with Brazilian supermodel (and Tom Brady baby mama) Gisele Bundchen. In the picture, LeBron is dressed in all back athletic gear, he’s shown hunched over, screaming, and dribbling a basketball with his right hand and Gisele snugly wrapped in his left arm.

Some critics say the picture promotes racial stereotypes because it provokes imagines of a dangerous Black man who is aggressive, threatening, and pursuing a delicate and helpless White female.

I disagree with people who find this image racially insensitive because if you flip pass the cover and look through the entire issue; you find this picture is representative of all the other pictures that feature male athletes looking fierce and scowled while the models look beautiful and fierce in their own special way (What up Tara Banks?). Raquel Zimmermann and Jared Rome pictured below.

As a Black male, I fully understand the need to end racially insensitive images and the need for a concerted effort to stop the perpetuation of racial stereotypes. But we as a Black community have to find a balance between finding materials insensitive and being too sensitive ourselves. Just because an African-American athlete is shown on the cover of a magazine, in a basketball player’s stance showing emotion, with a model of a different race firmly tucked in his arm and looking willowy shouldn’t automatically scream racial baiting.