Seductive Black Man

The Incident (1967), directed by Larry Pierce and based on Nicholas E. Baehr's 1963 television play Ride with Terror, follows a cross-section of New Yorkers whose ordinary subway ride is disrupted by two violent young men. Before the passengers' stories converge, the film introduces each character and the social tensions they carry with them.

This exchange between Arnold Robinson (Brock Peters) and Joan Robinson (Ruby Dee) captures a debate unfolding within the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, many viewed those victories as essential first steps, while others questioned whether legal reforms alone could deliver meaningful equality.

Arnold argues that patience has failed and that lasting change requires confrontation. Joan believes progress is real, but insists that change takes time. The film does not resolve their disagreement. It presents two competing responses to injustice during a pivotal moment in American history.

More than half a century later, the argument between Arnold and Joan still feels remarkably current. Perhaps that says as much about the present as it does about the past.

“The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation. For this reason, we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information, confusing it with its opposite, the pornographic. But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling. The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire.”