says: "I too sing America." Analysis By the time Marlon T. Riggs produced Anthem he had been diagnosed with AIDS. (Riggs died in 1994 after fighting AIDS for many years.) The film uses the ACT UP triangle and slogan "Silence=Death". The film seeks solidarity with AIDS victims and draws attention to the pain they are going through. The film shows memorial candles and describes the AIDS epidemic as a "holy procession of dying". The film reaches out to victims by saying: "Are you scared? Are you safe?" Marlon T. Riggs uses a lot of AIDS imagery because he was suffering from AIDS, an issue very real in his life. Marlon T. Riggs uses a holy cross and red rose for imagery in Anthem. Riggs has been critical of the black church's policy of essentially "Don't ask, Don't tell" toward homosexual men and women. By placing the African continent inside the ACT UP triangle, Marlon Riggs is appealing to Black nationalist movements to include, not exclude, black heterosexuals. Marlon Riggs has criticized the Black power movement directly in papers like his essay "Black Macho Revisted". Riggs believes that the Black power movement's call for unification under a macho culture leaves out both queer and feminine culture. Riggs has said that the caricatures the black community has drawn up around black gays and lesbians can be shown to have a direct cultural lineage from caricatures of blacks as Uncle Tom and the Brute Negro. Anthem responds to the Black macho image with the phrases: "Parade it proudly like a man" and "Flaunt it like a man." Marlon T. Riggs is questioning what exactly it means to behave "like a man". Marlon T. Riggs critiqued the Black Power movement for creating an image of African culture that revolves around the masculine warrior. Marlon T. Riggs wrote that the African Diaspora created a void in the knowledge many blacks have of their heritage. This was filled in by the image of the macho, African warrior. Marlon T. Riggs responds to this view of African culture by displaying images of Africans dancing in traditional garb. Images of the tribal dances are mixed with a gay black man dancing. Thus, Marlon T. Riggs is conveying a message that black gay culture can be a part of African heritage. The use of drums and hip-hop beats is a tribute to black culture. However, Marlon T. Riggs has