The L. E Center in Inglewood attracted a record number of its congregation to attend a Friday night screening of a documentary on sex. The stories are blunt, brutal, and dark, but important and necessary to be heard by young gay men of color.
The interviews were conducted by Craigwell and Stanley Bennett Clay wrote and directed the project. Mental health is often neglected in the black community. The documentary traces the life of Cedric, a young professional whose early expressions of his sexuality were stomped on by his father.
His father beat him mercilessly in an effort to eradicate any perceived traces of homosexuality and to force him to conform to his expectations. This father typifies many parents, whose reactions to their sons, are born out of fear of homosexuality or how society will view their child.
You Are Not Alone started out as a book project. Craigwell interviewed a number of black gay men who experienced depression. The project changed shaped and Craigwell recorded some of the men who he had previously sat with. Kevin Taylor, and others. I had the pleasure of moderating the panel after the screening.
The panel included: Antonie B. Craigwell, Stanley Bennett Clay who wrote and directed the re-enactments , Lester Greene who plays in the documentary , and Rev. Russell Thornhill of the L.
