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James is the first Black male lead in the popular reality shows 18-year history.
What they didnt want to do, they insisted, was cast a Black Bachelor for diversitys sake.
Television is a business, like anything else, Harrison said.
We cant just say, Were changing the world.
Translation:If we hire a Black male lead, our white audience will flee.
All these factors combined made Jamess unveiling feel abrupt, reactionary, and anticlimactic to savvyBachelorfans.
When asked if he felt any pressure being the first Black male lead, James demurred.
Im just going to lean into myself and how my mom raised me, he said.
The answer to that question becomes more obvious on a close watch of Jamess rollout onGMA.
The gatekeepers had spoken: Jamess Blackness got a pass.
And the threat of Black masculinity multipliesexponentiallywhen they are publicly kissing white women.
To be successful and Black in America, you must make your Blackness palatable, amiable, and safe.
He had to be better than a white man.
And that was his great gift to America.
He chose to be the perfect man.
Different methods, similar outcome.
Poitier, Washington, and Smith all had their unique methods of making their Blackness safe for white America.
But none of these men were biracial, and Matt James, it should be mentioned, is.
As a biracial man, James has the same theoretical tools at his disposal.
Matt James, however, does not have the luxury of being a dud.
He does not have the luxury of being toovulnerable, tooneedy, tooselfish, or toosexual.
He must find his own way of charming Americans into neutral, whatever his methods may be.
