In a speech given in 1997, Cornel West, the noted African American philosopher and intellectual, engaged the question of why the Black community, and the Black church in particular, has long struggled with the acceptance of homosexuality and willingness to acknowledge the suffering of those stricken with HIV and AIDS. West examines the development of notions of sexuality unique to African Americans, informed by centuries of enslavement, subjugation, and marginalization by white supremacists who alternated between demonizing and exoticizing men and women of color. West pleas for the Black community to intentionally examine its rigid concepts of sexuality, with particular emphasis on its members’ frequently intolerant and hateful attitudes toward Black homosexuals, as a means of encouraging greater acceptance and resistance against white supremacy.