The Den Population 25
Celebrating Black Heroes in Horror Part 2
Hey Survivor,
We’re back with part two of my Black Heroes in Horror series! I hope you enjoyed the last email and that you’re taking time to seek out and support Black creators, not just this month but every month. Being a creative isn’t easy. We pour our souls into building worlds, crafting stories, and putting our work out there, only to be judged, not just on our art, but on who we are. Now, add being Black to that equation. It’s far too easy for people to dismiss or rate our work low, hiding their bias behind so-called “taste” or “criticism.”
Since publishing in 2017, I’ve run into my fair share of gatekeepers making it clear they think I don’t belong. I’ve been kicked out of a writing group for celebrating Juneteenth. I’ve been told, “February is over, so shut your mouth.” I’ve received one-star reviews from white readers because my book didn’t have enough good white people. I’ve been passed over for group interviews for projects I was part of. And let’s not forget the reader who assumed Planet Dead was some kind of POC manifesto just because Catherine is Black.
And yet, through it all, I’ve kept going. (Okay, I may have cursed out a few people along the way, but like in Chicago, they had it coming.) I bring this up because people often overlook how simply being Black can make anything in America harder, depending on who you run into. That’s why I make it a point to highlight and uplift Black creators every chance I get, and I ask that you do the same.
Alright, enough of that. Let’s get to the heroes! Also, I’m celebrating Black Authors on Instagram every day this month, check it out below.
I don’t think it really needs to be explained why Jordan Peele is a hero within the Black Horror community. He came out of nowhere at a time when things were better for the Black community in horror than in the past, but it still wasn’t where they needed to be. There weren’t many stories told for us by us (I can’t pass up a chance to use FUBU, sorry). Then Jordan came onto the scene with “Get Out” and really shook things up. It wasn’t just a Black story with a Black lead, but it was the kind of story that was being told.
Jordan really packed a lot of social commentary into that movie while still giving us a thrilling and intense tale of one man trying to escape a crazed family. The evil wasn’t only racism but the fear of false allyship because nothing is scarier than laughing with someone who secretly hates you. Personally, for me, I felt like Jordan Peele said “It’s okay to put your real fears out there.” To show the broken mirror to the world and let them know what’s wrong with society. That moment when the red and blue lights show up, everyone had the same thought and that speaks to how well crafted that story was and how honest the message is. Jordan Peele has become a monster in this genre and has given a lot of hope to other Black horror creators that they can do the same.
Tiffany D. Jackson has been crafting chilling stories for a while now. The first time I ever heard about her was this report about inmates having a book club and they were reading her novel “Alledgiedly” and talking about how impactful it was to them and how they felt seen in the story. The first book I read of hers was “White Smoke.” I 100% buy books based on the covers, and when I saw White Smoke! I was blown away. I had to have that book, and it was a great Young Adult horror that got me thinking about writing within the Young Adult Horror Space.
Tiffany’s strength is being able to spin these creepy and chilling tales that surround real-life horrors and fears of the Black community but package them for the Young Adult market. I’ve heard several people who didn’t like Young Adult horror state that she’s made them fans. She’s an instant buy on my list and many others. I would call her my writing hero because she made me look at the genre differently, which has allowed me to craft my stories differently and approach them without fear.
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I had a goal that I never really worked toward: to have one of my stories on the Nightlight Podcast. I have no idea how I stumbled across Nightlight, but I was instantly in love with it.
Tonia Ransom is the mastermind of this podcast, in which she finds a Black horror story, has it narrated, and interviews the author. This goes above and beyond in support of Black horror. Right now, the Podcast is coming back from a small break, and Tonia could use all the support to get it back up and running like before. Be sure to check out the Nightlight Podcast.
Nina, The Wandering Reader, Aka The Spooky Librarian- I can’t tell you how awesome The Wandering Reader is. Not only is she running around on graveyards at my old stomping grounds (Kansas), but she’s working with bookstores, libraries, and students and pushing out reviews and love on social media for the horror community. She’s a Bookstagramer for real causes her photos are awesome, and her video spotlights are great, too. You should check out our episode on Tyron’s “Evol Live”
“You can be the boss down there; I’m the boss up here.” One of the coldest lines in zombie history was delivered by the late great Duane Jones, playing Ben from Night of The Living Dead. For you to fully understand the impact Ben made you have to take into consideration what was going on in the 60s in America. Night of The Living Dead came out during the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement, which aimed to put an end to legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement. Before the movie’s release, Black America had already dealt with:
Brown V. Board of Education
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Little Rock Nine
Freedom Rides
March on Washington
Freedom Summer
And the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Black community was in a fight for their lives, many were arrested, many were beaten and many were killed. Leaders were lost; it seemed as if anyone willing to stand up and speak for the community had a target on their back. This was the real world and the film industry wasn’t any better. Strong Black leads were few and far between and none of them were like Ben. Trapped in a farmhouse with a group of white people and the dead surrounding them, Ben didn’t have to step up because there was no question in his mind that he was at the top. He slapped a white woman, silenced a racist, and did his best to keep everyone alive. The character was a hero for sure, but the inspiration that Ben gave to the Black community was unmatched. After losing so much to win the fight for Civil Rights, the Black community still knew they had a long road ahead of them, and taking the backseat was no longer an option. I’ve always felt that Ben was the embodiment of a new era in the Black community, an area where talking and asking was over and the community had to take what they wanted and build for their own.
Romero always said that casting Jones wasn’t about making a statement; he was just the best actor among them. If that’s true, then the universe surely had a hand in that casting because it knew Ben was needed by Black horror fans and creatives everywhere.
When I sat down to create Catherine, I wanted to make the ultimate badass. I pictured her like Sarah Connor from T2. That was pretty much her foundation, but as I began writing Catherine, she became a lot more. She was used as an avatar to deal with PTSD, abandonment, and the anxiety of feeling like everyone was counting on you. Catherine is a flawed hero because the world isn’t black and white. People aren’t perfect, but they can still make a difference, they can still send a message. I think of Claudette Colvin when I think of the concept of “Right message, Wrong messenger.” Colvin was 15 years old in 1955 when she was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman. This arrest was in March, and Rosa Park’s arrest was in December. The movement went with Rosa because they believed Colvin, a teenager who got pregnant after her arrest, wasn’t the right look for the movement. Colvin once stated that Rosa had the right hair and the right look, “She fit the profile,” that the NAACP wanted to display the injustices of the middle class.
Right message, Wrong messenger, ever since I heard about Colvin that has always stuck with me. I felt that society had trained us (or brainwashed us) into believing only their image of the messenger is correct. I had that same run-in when creating Catherine because the horror genre kind of drives home that the final girl is a young white woman. When the whole concept of Planet Dead came about the plan was, that Catherine (a white woman) would save Sue and we would build up through the events that Catherine was the final girl, while quietly building Sue in the background, so at the end when Catherine dies we would see that Sue was the final girl all along. That was the plan until the night I was reading a post about a Black comic book movement and telling my wife how I would love to support something like that. My wife looked me in the eyes and asked me, “Why isn’t Catherine Black?” I told her “She can’t be Black.” That statement shook me, I realized that the genre I loved so much had caused me to believe that my people couldn’t be heroes. I tossed out the work I had for Planet Dead and started over with Catherine as a strong Black woman and the rest is pretty much history.
I see Catherine as a great Black hero, not because of the things she does in the story. Not even because of what she represents as just being a Black lead. I see Catherine as a Black hero because she saved me from a mindset that I didn’t even know I had. So that’s why she’s on this list, because Catherine and my Wife openned my eyes to a lie that I had been believing for years.
Well, that’s all the heroes! I really hope you enjoyed this series of Newsletters. Let me know what you would like to see in future newsletter in the comments below, as always:
Stay safe.
Stay woke.
And Stay alive!
Until the Next Nightmare,
-Sylvester
The Black Geek Couple Podcast is BACK! Be sure to follow me and my wife Angel as we dive into horror that you can stream today, as well as all things geeky, pop culture, and maybe some true crime. Listen to our first episode today as we recap Episodes 1 & 2 of Paramount+’s School Spirits.
