“The First Black Bachelor”
Next, Matt got his own interview time, admitting to Emmanuel that there was “a lot of pressure” and being the first black Bachelor to be under great control. He felt he was being asked not only to find love, but also to take on the weight of “everything that is going on in the country” in terms of social justice.
He said he wasn’t necessarily thinking about the pressures of the role, but more about how it got to the people.
“I think it’s exactly what we, as black men, have to do to familiarize people with your blackness and furthermore to show that you are not as threatening in terms of stature and personality as you are” he said said. “These are the things I’ve been thinking about.”
But in the end, he didn’t regret the experience.
“I was able to learn a lot about myself from meeting so many wonderful women who were there for love,” he said, and it was “liberating” to be comfortable telling someone that they loved them.
