As an African-American man who lives for fashion, music, and pop culture it is becoming more and more disturbing for me to see fewer and fewer black men gracing the cover of the magazines loved by a diverse group of men.
This is a topic we have to start examining and discussing as a society. Once we start discussing the issue we will begin to accept that we need to empower our young men, black and white alike. Today men are feeling worthless and not good enough which all starts at a young age. These feelings slowly become a greater, unbearable issue in adulthood. Our society focuses more on women rather than the male population. Men in general and their issues are being ignored and not addressed or talked about.
Sadly what prompted me to write more about the empowerment of men in our society is the lack of images of African-American men. It’s also unsettling to know one of my favorite magazines, “DETAILS” has not had an African-American on the cover in years. Details has always been a favorite of mine. It’s a great magazine but after clicking on the press page of their website the proof was an undeniable truth.
While scrolling down the “Magazine” cover page and browsing through the various covers it was a hard pill to swallow. It wasn’t unexpected but it’s always shocking when you’re presented with the facts. From September 2001 to August 2014 there were only three African-American celebrities (Puffy, Kayne West and Idris Elba) on the cover.
Does the publication not think that an African-American Male is captivating enough for their cover? My question, why has there not been an African-American on the cover of DETAILS magazine in such a long period of time?
Businesses focus on marketing and understanding their audience and demographic, but it’s frustrating when you cannot find one image of yourself on the cover of one of the most popular men’s magazines in the country. In my opinion, we have to start as a society to question these seemingly small issues which potentially become larger ones when our young men turn into adult men. They grow up having little self-esteem and may seek out attention in harmful acts because they have not been empowered or shown images of themselves in mainstream media.
