Reading Racial Fetishism

I find it extremely interesting how Kobena Mercer had changing perspectives of on racial fetishism, and therefore felt compelled to write a second amendment to the first part of his article. One point that stood out to me in the second part of his article is that different readers make different readings. I think that this is a universal meaning that can be applied to photography of all genres, but is especially true when it comes to gender roles. In that section of his article he discussed Mapplethorpe's statement "the black man is beautiful," which as Mercer notes could not possibly mean the same thing if it was said by a white or black women or man, or by someone who is straight or gay. Each person would attach a different relationship to the phrase.

In the first part of the article I find that the obsession with the black body is interesting because it is described as a point of envy that his hated and admired all at the same time. One page 178, Mercer discusses how black men were seen to be all brawn and no brains. Which in the case of sports makes them extremely idolized. I think that the reason that this idolization forms a type of competition between both white and black males, is because white males didn't want to desire to the black male. They wanted to over assert themselves to be better than them. The article even mentions how Mapplethorpe affirms his own identity as "the sovereign I/eye empowered with mastery over the object thinghood of the Other" (177). Stereotypes were also used to assert control/dominance over 'The Other.'