My father once said, after seeing an episode of TNG with Worf and Geordi LaForge, that this kind of thing was an attempt to essentially mitigate positive images of black men on TV by "disfiguring" them in some way - Worf with the forehead ridges, and LaForge with the visor.
I was... unconvinced.
There are an awful lot of black cyborg characters in this thread, though.
I suppose, in theory, one could read the prevalence of cybernetic enhancement/replacement in black characters as a conscious or unconscious attempt to associate a sense of artificiality or inhumanity with the image of a strong black male.
It could also be the suggestion that blacks need some sort of augmentation or assistance (in this case mechanical in nature) in order to stand toe to toe or side by side with the surrounding, usually overwhelmingly white cast of "regular" people.
It could be this concept of "disfigurement", suggesting the necessity of strong black characters to have undergone some sort of major physical trauma for which they then need prosthetic assistance.
It could be seen as an attempt to maintain "other-ness" for black characters involved in sci-fi settings where the world is so full of strange happenings that the color of one's skin is no longer sufficient as a means of social "segregation" from a story perspective.
Equus Bellator Apex seems to suggest there is a link between the cybernetic imagery and old devices and symbols of African-American slave bondage.
Again, I remain... unconvinced.
But it's such a weirdly specific thing to keep popping up all over the place that I feel like there's something behind it.
Interesting to think about, though.
