CommentsTHE VIEW FROM HERE - Significant behavior is often over-determined. Over-determination means a single-observed event was determined by multiple causes,
which requires an analysis of the various causes in order to comprehend the over all situation. Presently, the world is discussing the slap as a Black Thing. Let’s analyze.
The Facts
At the Oscar’s Chris Rock said, “Jada, I love you – G.I. Jane 2. Can’t wait to see it.”
Will Smith laughed. Jada rolled her eyes, and as far as the video goes, she sits back a little. Reports are Will looked over at Jada and then everything changed, and Will Smith went on stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face.
Will Smith returns to his seat. When Chris says, “it was a GI Jane joke,” Will Smith shouts, “Leave my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth, and repeats “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.”
Chris Rock Said Nothing Derogatory About Jada
Chris Rock’s comment was a shout-out of support to Jada. He addressed it to Jada saying “I love you.” Knowing that Jada has struggled with alopecia but without mentioning it, Chris Rock then cast Jada as a strong Black woman by allusion to her starring in the next GI Jane movie. Although most did not know the reason behind Jada’s bald look, people in show business know about her auto-immune disease. Saying that she could do the next GI Jane movie was a recognition of her strength in fighting the disease. Most thought it was no deeper than linking the two by hair style.
As the video shows, no one saw the comment as negative. It is unlikely Jada saw it as a jab at her alopecia.
Had Chris Rock wanted to make an insult, he could have said, “I see Will and Jada Smith. What’s that? The Mussolini hairstyle is making a come-back?” Let’s not pretend that Chris Rock’s shout out to Jada, holding her up as a strong woman, was any type of put down.
The Rewriting of History
The narrative pauses here to discuss an issue which transcends this slapping event. The entire world is subjected to the vilely pernicious habit of allow other to rewrite history. Almost invariably people have distort the scenario to Chris Rock’s behavior was inappropriate. The mildest form goes, “Even though Rock’s comment was uncalled for, Will Smith should not have. . . . “
Our entire nation is consumed with the aftermath of the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021 at the nation’s Capitol because the loser, Donald Trump, re-wrote history claiming that he won. Despite the universal finding of every legitimate inquiry that Trump was the loser, millions of people cling to the rewrite. Some Congressmen have gone so far as to claim the violent attempt to overthrow the government and lynch the Vice President were merely citizens peacefully demonstrating.
Our entire world is embroiled in the mass slaughter and incipient genocide of the Ukranian people because Vladimir Putin has rewritten history to make President Zelenksyy, a Jew, the head of a Nazi government which must be destroyed.
The Congressional Wokers promote scurrilous rewriting of current events endorsing the outrageous falsehood that Israel is an apartheid state.
Anyone who stands up to rebut these monstrous perversions of truth is smacked down harder than Will Smith smacked Chris Rock, who like the old Timex watch commercial, “can a take licking and keep on ticking.”
This Habit to Substitute Falsehood for Truth Rots Society
Although despicable lies have characterized the California judiciary long before the arrival of California Chief Justice Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye, she has supported and championed their constant use. Tens of thousands of Californians, Black, Hispanic, and generic whites, have been unjustly convicted and/or imprisoned far too long based upon prosecutorial lies. In January 2015, federal judge Alex Kozinski called out the California appellate court and then California Attorney General Kamala Harris for the support of a perjuring prosecutor and lying jail house informant, citing an epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct. Kamala became Vice President, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye still reigns over a corrupt judiciary but Judge Kozinski was forced off the bench.
As Snopes reports, Facebook user Cris Cris posted a false apology by Chris Rock.
Will Smith is an Individual Human Being
Although Martin Luther King seems to have fallen out of favor in these days of rampant Wokerism, in America each man is to be judged by the content of his character and not by his skin color. This principle follows from the Declaration of Independence that each individual has inalienable rights. Let’s look at what we’ve learned about Will Smith since the slap.
Will has shared that as a child he felt guilt for not protecting his mother from his abusive father. He said he felt like a coward for not physically intervening since he was the oldest sibling. Such feelings lurk deep within one’s psyche. Chris Rock’s comment did not awaken this shame. Rather it was Jada’s reaction, who seems to be sitting back and looking at Will as if to say, “What are you going to do about it?”
Will Smith will not be the last man to fall for The Defend My Honor Ploy. Jada did not instinctively reach out to grab Will’s forearm as many wives would have done if she thought he might say or do something. Quite the opposite, Jada appeared upset that Will was not taking action. Also, Will’s role in King Richard as Venus and Serena William’s hero protector Dad probably aggravated Will’s childhood feelings of not protecting his mom.
Nothing Makes the Slap a Black Thing. That came Afterwards
For personal emotional reasons, Will Smith lashed out and slapped Chris Rock in the most inappropriate forum. Commentators like Tiffany Haddish made it a Black Thing.
“When I saw a Black man stand up for his wife. That meant so much to me,” . . . [M]aybe the world might not like how it went down, but for me, it was the most beautiful thing I ever seen because it made me believe that there are still men out there that love and care about their women, their wives.”
A “Black man” committing a criminal battery is the most beautiful thing she has even seen?!? Haddish used the words “Black man” and not “husband.” Many people fear that Black men are violence prone. The concept that violence is the proper response to a comment is so contrary to our cultural norms that it has been criminalized. On Facebook, Tiffany Haddish has a loud chorus of supporters.
The fear of Black male violence morphs into the belief that Black males are innately criminal. People will use Haddish to again trash BLM and the 2020 looters, who were opportunists and not part of BLM. People will point out that Blacks are disproportionately the attackers of small Asian women and Blacks are the main group of smash and grab robbers at high end stores. The slap seen around the world was not a Black Thing until Tiffany Haddish and others made it a Black thing.
Nonetheless, Will Smith is an individual human being, who due to a confluence of personal factors, made an egregious personal error. The burden now rests upon Will Smith to rise to the occasion to undo the harm. His voluntary return of the Oscar, as an act of contrition, would make Will Smith a hero and role model for everyone. What Will Smith does now will define his character without regard for the color of his skin color.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
