Anthem and Affirmations Produced, Directed and Edited by Marlon T. Riggs

Anthem 1991, 9 min. Marlon Rigg's experimental music video politicizes the homoeroticism of African-American men. With images–sensual, sexual and defiant and words intended to provoke, Anthem reasserts the "self-evident right" to life and liberty in an era of pervasive anti-gay, anti-Black backlash and hysterical cultural repression.

Affirmations 1990, 10 min. An exploration of Black gay male desires and dreams. Affirmations starts with an affectionate, humorous confessional and moves on to a wish for empowerment and incorporation.

"My struggle has allowed me to transcend that sense of shame and stigma identified with my being a Black gay man. Having come through that fire, they can't touch me." –Marlon T. Riggs

• "Affirmations is a continuation of the exploration of the African-American gay male identity that Marlon Riggs began with Tongues Untied....If you've ever been curious about or tried to understand the Black gay male experience, this is for you."
         -Karl Knapper, Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco
  
  "[Anthem] manages to politicize and celebrate the image of African-American
• men and to present that image as living history, gender pliable and
• ready for the revolution(s)."
         –D. L. Alvarez, Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco