Will Smith and the ‘unfair’ burden Black men face

Chris Rock for making a cruel joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia, many people denounced Smith for reacting with violence. But the critiques quickly became racially charged and experts in racial stereotypes say many of the responses, particularly among white people, were rooted in anti-Blackness.

“I am certain that if one white man slapped another during the Oscars, the world would be buzzing about it, too. But the buzz would be different – it wouldn’t be racialized. When white men act badly, their actions aren’t attributed to their race. Because Will Smith and Chris Rock are both Black men, so much of the conversation about their altercation is being characterized as Black male violence, which is unfair,” said Shaun Harper, a professor at the University of Southern California.

Why we can’t agree on Will Smith’s slap

Black men are taught from the start to be careful how they dress, to always smile, to be aware of how their bodies and demeanors are perceived by the people who may be socialized to see them as a threat. They are taught their emotions and especially their anger is not permissible, which can have harmful mental health consequences. 

but refused.  

Black men walk a tightrope

David Fakunle, an associate with the National Great Blacks In Wax Museum in Baltimore, said for any non-white person to survive in a society that is dominated by white people, white systems and white power, they must learn to operate within that system until they can dismantle it.

Fakunle said Smith is a Black man who has been able to find a balance of relevance and trust within Black and white spaces. d

“For Black folks, maybe unconsciously, they think, ‘Oh, he’s the one who could show them our ways. He’s the one that can demonstrate our creativity, our beauty, perhaps in the manner that they will understand.’ From the white side, it’s ‘Oh, he’s the one that makes us feel comfortable. We feel safe around him, yet he still has cred with the other Black folks,” Fakunle said. “And that’s a balance that men like Will Smith, Bill Cosby before (#MeToo) and Sidney Poitier achieved. And it’s not necessarily that it was an intentional campaign by any of those men, they just became the ones that were able to do it.”

While some Black men can successfully walk this tightrope, Fakunle said it’s problematic that people of color feel they need to satisfy the metaphorical masses.  

“Plenty of Black men just want to live their lives, have whatever semblance of peace and understanding and love that they can have. And they should have that right,” he said.

he wrote in his memoir published last year. 

Smith may have long been viewed as a role model, but he has admitted that in many ways he’s just a wounded man. 

Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, director of McLean Hospital’s Institute for Trauma-Informed Systems Change in Massachusetts, called Smith’s violence unacceptable but said it showed a person working out their pain in front of millions of people.

“This is a traumatized man who was triggered and reacted to that trigger for all the world to see,” she said.

Concerns that Smith’s behavior reflects negative racial stereotypes

With the slap, some Black people saw Smith perpetuating negative racial stereotypes about Black men as inherently aggressive and violent.

In a blog post titled “Will Smith Did a Bad, Bad Thing,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote that the “Black community also takes a direct hit from Smith. One of the main talking points from those supporting the systemic racism in America is characterizing Blacks as more prone to violence and less able to control their emotions. Smith just gave comfort to the enemy by providing them with the perfect optics they were dreaming of.”

Will Smith, Chris Rock, and when words are violent, too

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