CAN BLACK MEN EVER REALLY WIN IN HOLLYWOOD?

By Patrick Washington

One year after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, “so-called Black Hollywood is more like the Black Student Union at a PWI.”

Scene 1: Will

Will Smith did almost exactly what he should’ve done this entire time. As a leading man, one of the last true movie stars, and an Oscar winner, his apology tour was so cliché, it almost felt like a new Apple+ TV show pilot. The brief but anticipatory absence from the public eye, the not-so-random apology to the Rock family… and then a complete resurgence with Oscarworthy fare.

It was amazing to watch Smith’s performance in “Emancipation” and watch the powers that be scramble to come up with the right PR slant to explain why he isn’t allowed at the Oscars for a decade, even though he’s making better films than anyone in his league. The whole diversity/ inclusion/representation speech was tailor-made for times like this.

The one thing Smith didn’t do right, was do what Black men do. Where was the private personal talk with Chris Rock?

Scene 2: Chris

This year, Chris did what he was supposed to do. He stayed silent. But we all knew what was coming. Regardless if you like him or his style, in Netflix’s “Selective Outrage,” his mastery of the craft is on display full throttle. Chris is a real comedian; nothing he says on that stage is by accident or without purpose. He utilizes the oratory techniques of southern preachers, inflections of a college professor, and the pausespeak-pause-speak techniques of motivational speakers to engage the audience in a show they don’t even realize is interactive.

We all know why we’re here, too. It ain’t for the social commentary. We want to hear Chris roast Will Smith — however, not without some foundation. Like the slap itself, Chris unleashed a tirade punchlines, each one more impactful than the last.

Education Task Force of Sonoma County, California’s Commission on the Status of Women first celebrated “Women’s History Week” in Santa Rosa. They chose the week that included March 8, International Women’s Day, since that had already been celebrated in many countries for much of the 20th century and officially recognized by the United Nations one year earlier as a day to acknowledge women’s contributions and call for women’s economic, political, and civil rights. Women historians and community leaders quickly spread the demand for a national commemoration, and in 1980 President Jimmy Carter responded by issuing the first presidential proclamation designating March 2-8 as National Women’s History Week.

President Carter’s proclamation read: “From the first settlers who came to our shores, from the first American Indian families who befriended them, men and women have worked together to build this nation. Too often the women were unsung and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed. But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well. As Dr. Gerda Lerner has noted, ‘Women’s history is women’s right – an essential and indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision’ . . . I urge libraries, schools, and community organizations to focus their observances on the leaders who struggled for equality—Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, and Alice Paul.

He was hitting Will Smith back in a way a slap could not achieve. He was playing the game Hollywood doesn’t like: the truth game. Like winning a rap battle against Drake, Will lost — but just in the eyes of the Blacks. Which in Hollywood ain’t a real loss anyway.

Understanding the true history of our country will help us to comprehend the need for full equality under the law for all our people. This goal can be achieved by ratifying the 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that ‘Equality of Rights under the Law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.’”

That persona he cultivated for so long, that image that was accepted by all four quadrants of the audience, that character of Will Smith is no more. He was just another Black man acting violently instead of communicating effectively, and it shocked people.

Scene 3: Marlon

What we didn’t know we needed in this long text thread was the opinion of Marlon Wayans. Shockingly, Marlon, had a GOOD take.

See HOLLYWOOD page 13

Of course, the measure that President Carter then hoped would become the 27th Amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, still has not been enshrined into the Constitution. March formally became a full Women’s History Month in the U.S. following a 1987 Congressional resolution, but 45 years after that fledgling Women’s History Week, women’s rights are under renewed attack in our nation, and American women have not yet received equality on a range of key measures, including equal pay. One of those measures of disparate outcomes hangs in the balance right now: as the Supreme Court hears arguments this week on whether to strike down President Biden’s plan to cancel $10,000 of student loan debt for low- to middle-income borrowers, women are facing a disproportionate threat. Women hold twothirds of student loan debt in our nation. Black women, who often have fewer family wealth resources to pay for higher education, have the highest average totals. For many of these women and their families, the Biden administration’s plan would bring critical relief. Now, as the Supreme Court considers the challenges to the student loan forgiveness plan from six Republican-led states and two plaintiffs, once again women have the most to gain—or lose.

Women’s chances are still unequal in our nation, but our will is not and never has been. As a growing number of women gain political power all the way to the highest levels, and a growing number of young women realize how critical it is to use their power to vote in every election, women are once again poised to lead transforming and necessary change.