“I am a Black man in Hollywood — in order to sustain my position, I can’t get caught slipping, not even once.” Will Smith wrote this in his candid memoir. They were perceptive, spot-on words. Unfortunately, in that one dumb and embarrassing split-second in which he barged onto the Academy stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock, he forgot his own words. Worse, he forgot that the misstep he warned about as a self-cautionary note has implications far beyond just his unthinking moment of rage. It’s those implications — not the slap — that offer fresh teaching moments.
The attack reinforced one of the worst and most enduring stereotypes about Black males. That is the long-standing image of the malevolent, impulsive, violent, out of control, thug image of Black males. What’s worse, it wasn’t two Black guys on the street in the ’hood reinforcing the stereotype. Smith and his victim, Rock, are two of the wealthiest, most successful, publicly visible Black men around.
In that ugly moment, Smith transformed himself into America’s racial bad boy — again. It’s the shortest of short steps to think that Smith can be depicted as a caricature of the terrifying image that much of the public still harbors about young and not-so-young Black males.
Many thought that former President Obama’s two-term tenure in the White House buried negative racial typecasting and the perennial threat racial stereotypes posed to the safety and well-being of Black males. It did no such thing. Immediately after Obama’s election, teams of researchers from several major universities found that many of the old stereotypes about poverty and crime and Blacks remained just as frozen in time. The study found that much of the public still perceived that those most likely to commit crimes are Black. It also showed that once the stereotype is planted, it’s virtually impossible to root out.
There‘s the issue of violence, and how much of society and the media implicitly condones it, revels in it, even glorifies it. This has had devastating consequences in poor Black communities. The chronic sordid history of murder and assaults has been the stuff of much frustration and handwringing. It has spurred a desperate search for solutions to tamp down the violence. There’s been a near cottage industry in preaching and imploring and conducting every sort of violence prevention program imaginable aimed at Black youth. The goal always is to drive home the point that violence simply makes more victims and causes more pain in families and communities.
Unfortunately, legions of those same young persons that we try to reach with that message witnessed that violence in prime-time living color on one of the world’s biggest media stages, the Oscars ceremony. More galling, far too many defended or rationalized Smith’s violent assault as some sort of duty toward his wife. This just makes the job of peace advocates in Black communities working to combat violence even harder.
There’s one more thing: Smith’s perceptive admission that as a Black man, he is always under the looking glass and must be on guard against a “misstep” that could unhinge all he’s worked to attain in Hollywood. Smith, in that revealing moment could have been speaking for many Blacks both within and outside the film industry. Wealth, fame and celebrity status are no iron-clad shield protecting them from being tainted and tossed aside at the first hint of scandal or bad behavior—real or manufactured.
Smith is essentially saying that there is a racial double standard in Hollywood and beyond that still holds firm for even the most seemingly rich and successful Blacks. If a mega-star such as Smith must be constantly on guard, what does that say about how far America has really advanced down the road to becoming a racially blind, merit-only society that rewards success? The Smith debacle does not give a pretty answer to that question.
Smith has profusely apologized for his rash act. He has resigned from the Academy. That does not let him off the hook. The Academy will still render some sort of punishment to him later in April. However, in that embarrassing moment at the Academy event, Smith’s “slip” provided both a cautionary warning and a teaching moment about the always-thorny mix of race and celebrity in America.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst.
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