Will Smith, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett-Smith, slap to the face, Oscar awards. That’s what’s trending right now so I might as well write about it. Right? I might as well weave it into the many other topics here.
But really though? Black people still think that a Black celebrity’s public blunder makes all Black people look bad? And some are concerned about what White folks think of us. Here’s the thing. Any racist person of any race who insists on believing or pretending to believe Black people are all inherently violent, will do so regardless; even if Will Smith had never slapped the shit out of the homey Chris Rock on national television. Besides, Will Smith’s personal blunder have nothing to do with the entire race of Black people. It only reflects on him and whatever drama and demons he’s fighting.
Whenever any crime is committed and the identity of the person is not revealed on the mainstream news, it’s common for us to say, “Oh Lord. I hope he ain’t Black. That would be embarrassing for us.” And we are usually very disappointed when it’s revealed that it is a Black person, under this Stockholm Syndrome-guise of not wanting to look to crazy to White folks. And when it’s a Black, iconic celebrity, that whole “he or she set us back 200 years” mentality is that much stronger. It’s actually not embarrassing for us. It’s only embarrassing for that single Black individual.
When a crime is committed by an average joe White person, they aren’t bracing themselves with fear, hoping the person wasn’t White. Any White celebrity who disgraced themselves, doesn’t cause a feeling among Whites that the entire race of White people are being made to look bad. The same thing applies to Asians, Hispanics, or any other ethnicity.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. Other races probably can afford to have members who make a mistake. We, on the other hand, can’t afford to have our Black icons make us look bad the way other races can. This is primarily because a negative image of Blacks will give cops, the injustice system, employment, or any other power structures the justification to treat us unfairly. And they’ll do so based on their limited contact with Black people other than watching those few famous Black celebrities, as well as cherry-picked negative crime stories of the average joe Black masses.
None of this matters. The media will always show negative images of Blacks, even if 99.5% of Blacks were righteous and civilized. They will still find that 0.5% needle of unrighteous and uncivilized to rep the entire 99.5% civilized haystack of the Black race. If 1,000 Black men wore suits and ties and talked with good grammar and diction, and had a polished, sophisticated manner, the media will find the one dirty and bummy crackhead to represent the entire Black race. If 1,000 Black women exhibited a gracious, regal manner, the media will find the one funky, messy alcoholic to represent all Black women. Will Smith refraining from slapping fire out of Chris Rock will not stop future negative media portrayals.
Many music record labels, force young positive rappers to only rap about violence, guns, drugs, murder and degradation of women- even against their creative wishes. And this thug-from-the-hood image is put out to the world for White folks to see. Movies and TV shows also portray Blacks in a negative light. Monique won an Oscar for a hood rat mother, and Denzel won an Oscar for playing a crooked cop. This is all done in front of White folks. So, this Will Smith slap to Chris Rock at the snooty, nose-in-the-air Oscars is surely not the straw that will break the camels back to mainstream society viewing us negatively- or pretending to view us negatively.
Why do I say pretend? Because the elites who run the media, knows not all Blacks are violent, ghetto, uneducated thugs. They know Black male personality types run the gamut from blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, athletic jocks, jolly jokesters, nerds, artsy types, sensitive mama’s boys, and you guessed it, the thug or street dude. But the media shows the world the worst of the worst, the violent, unsophisticated thug or street dude.
The media or media talking heads also knows the ghetto, criminal underworld Black-on-Black crime they love to use to justify police brutality represents a small percentage of Black people. The majority of Blacks are law-abiding working poor, working class, middle class, and some in the upper class. But the media will over report the negative underworld criminal element and under report the positive, upstanding majority.
They do this to give Black people a negative portrayal of themselves. They know we are virtuous like any other race. They also know Black people come from historical royalty of civilizing the world. The elite power structure knows this, at least. The rank and file, civilian White person may or may not know how Blacks are other than watching famous people. But who cares? Black people should not use White judgment as the litmus test Black validation. We also shouldn’t use other races and global ethnicities’ judgement of us for better or worse as a litmus test for our validation. Only we should judge ourselves and define ourselves to ourselves. So with that being said, I hope another Black celebrity slaps another Black celebrity next year at the Oscars. Just kidding
