All posts by Dr. James Thomas Jones III

African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Males, Black Men, RACE

A Black Man’s Perspective of Why Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock

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There are moments when Black men find themselves in untenable situations. Ask any random Black man, and they will have no difficulty sharing personal moments that reduce to “You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” Black men are living within a patriarchal society that has never fit them as well as their non-Black compatriots for reasons that are centuries old. Such realities have resulted in Black men and Black women making unanticipated adaptations as they strove to make a way out of no way.

When one considers the unique circumstances that have always faced Black men, it is unfair to place many of their failures to serve as protectors and providers within their homes on their sturdy shoulders. The latter qualification has been a sketchy proposition at best for the average Black man as the American economy transitioned from its heyday as a manufacturing giant reliant on the strength of American workers.

One could forge a reasonable argument that Civil Rights leaders pushed for racial equality without consideration of long-term economic ramifications for Black businesses and the workers whose sole means of making ends meet hinged on employment within Black America. With the benefit of hindsight, it is evident that the urge to “integrate” with a hostile White society resting on antiquated cultural norms by any means necessary did not include any consideration of its ramifications on Black America’s economic future.

The inability of Black workers to provide for their families in an economic society overwhelmingly operated by White owners is an inoperable thorn that is arguably the major irritant within Black homes. Since enslavement, Black Christians have believed that God ordains males to be “head of household.” Yet, in the post-Civil Rights and Black Power Era, a Black Man’s ability or inability to provide for and protect his family has become a prerequisite to such a revered position. Although rarely discussed, over the past century, few Black men could defend themselves, let alone their loved ones, from marauding Whites (citizens, politicians, law enforcement officers) or provide for them without some contact with White society.

The context discussed above serves as the backdrop of the sad tale that millions of Americans watch unfold between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the Academy Awards. I am confident that there is not a Black person over the age of fifty who disagrees that Will and Jada have much blame for this situation. Their accountability flows from not following the age-old advice of Black parents and grandparents that “what happens in this house remains in this house.” Even I, a casual observer who considers Will Smith’s importance his rap career and Jada Pinkett-Smith’s only relevance is her prior dealings with Tupac Amaru Shakur. I have seen these two individuals’ dealings bantered about in print media.

One does not need to search long to encounter Black folks who would cast Will Smith as the nice guy role who will finish last when it comes to a woman such as Jada Pinkett-Smith. Most would highlight that her previous association with the likes of Tupac and Wesley Snipes is a caution sign for a person like Will Smith. There is not much room to debate against the idea that Will Smith, with all of his accomplishments, will never descend to the levels of those mentioned above; for “nice guys” like Smith, street credibility is as elusive as an Oscar.

Therein lies an often-avoided discussion within Black America regarding the types of Black men that a segment, not all, Black men prefer that is crucial to understanding Will Smith’s actions at the Academy Awards. Far too often, Black women by-pass intelligent, respectful, and appropriate Black men in favor of males who are the personification of all that are wrong with Black America. Of course, the alluded shortcomings bleed over into their relationships and the creation/rearing of children.

Far too often, well-adjusted Black men hide their brilliance, courage, and ingenuity. This population wears the mask that Paul Laurence Dunbar writes about in his epic poem provided below.

We Wear the Mask.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, —

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

 

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

 

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

When sophistication and logic are the best options, many reasonable Black men abandon that stance in favor of vulgarity and violence. One of the primary catalysts behind such decision-making is the expectation of a demanding/domineering woman in their life, peer pressure from Black society, in general, to keep it real, etc. With ALL of his accomplishments, Will Smith found himself in this dire situation before a national audience.

Many, including Will Smith, were amused at Chris Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith; Regina Hall began the assault on the Smith’s allegedly open marriage earlier in the show. However, as the camera panned from a grinning Will Smith to a visibly disturbed Pinkett-Smith to capture the aftereffects of the joke, her disdain amounted to a cue for her husband to do something. ANYTHING!!!!!! to please her. I hope that Will Smith’s physical assault and the verbal barrage of “Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth” met the bar.

I am sure that Will Smith, similar to so many other Black men, instantaneously realized that inaction would light a fuse that would not extinguish for months. One of the worst held secrets in Black America has been the production of “strong” domineering Black women who have somehow concluded that if a man is not a rival to Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown… the baddest man in town,” he is not worthy of any semblance of cooperation, consideration, or respect.

In light of such a context, Will Smith was certainly pressured into doing something out of character, if not reckless, to appease his wife. This situation resulted in one millionaire Black man physically and verbally assaulting another millionaire Black man before a gawking audience that looked on with what W.E.B. DuBois termed “amused contempt and pity.”

Although it is difficult for me to accept, far too many “nice” Black men are being ignored and discarded due to their inability or non-desire to assume the mantra of inappropriateness.

Of course, adopting a street persona pivots around a willingness to do ANYTHING at ANY TIME. Such a mindset also paves a smooth road for Black males’ arrival at disorders including, but not limited to, frustration with life, depression, and a host of other psychological problems that most will attempt to address via drugs, sexual promiscuity, and violence (physical and verbal) on others. Will Smith’s decision to “smack the shit out of” Chris Rock in defense of his wife is a classic, yet unfortunate, occasion of being “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” in the following manner.

  • If Smith did not defend his wife, his “good guy” persona equates to being “soft” among Black America, solidifying him as lesser than his contemporaries.
  • If Smith rises from his seat to assault Chris Rock, he risks a career he spent decades developing.

We all know the decision that Smith ultimately made. This moment exposes the unceasing pressures Black Men face at and away from home. The alluded load is an insufferable one that wears down and eventually breaks the majority of Black men who may never fully comprehend that in most situations, they are “damned if they do and damned if they don’t.” What makes this issue even more difficult for Black men is the undeniable fact that they have many corners that they must turn and a host of people relying on them.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

 

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CRITICAL RACE THEORY, POLITICS, RACE

A Shameless Motley Crew: How the Absence of Morality is Fully Displayed Yet Again by Republican Senators

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Fifty-five years ago, Thurgood Marshall, a top General in Charles Hamilton Houston’s brigade of young Black civil rights attorney whose victories across the South reminds the historically literate of General Ulysses S. Grant’s scorched Earth policy throughout Confederate lands, sat through Senate confirmation hearings to become this nation’s first Black Supreme Court Justice.

During an extremely contentious hearing over fifty years ago, a group of White segregationist Senators did their best to stir up constituents’ fears by evoking the imagery of Black Civil Rights and Black Power activists battling White law enforcement officers seeking to prevent a violent revolutionary overthrow of America. Even the politically unsophisticated were capable of recognizing the insinuation that if Thurgood Marshall, a relatively Conservative Black man in his own right, were confirmed that anarchy would reign in American streets.

The unfair characterization of Marshall was not the subtle “dog whistle” that many term such moments. Public attacks on Marshall were unfair intentional mischaracterizations of a man who had served as one of Charles Hamilton Houston’s foremost “levers for social justice.” Over half of a century ago it was Thurgood Marshall being raked over the coals by ardent segregationists via an argument tailored to stoke White folks irrational fears, today it is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson being dragged over similar coals by a more sophisticated yet equally evil intentioned cadre of Republican Senators.

Yesteryear, White segregationist Senators argued that if Justice Marshall were confirmed, the White man would no longer stand a chance in a nation founded by their ancestors. Today, a slicker talking yet similarly intentioned cadre of White Senators are doing their best to evoke thoughts among their supporters that if Judge Jackson, the princess of Critical Race Theory and pedophilia according to the alluded Senators, is confirmed White society is doomed.

I am sure that you understand my refusal to rehash the demonically inspired intentions and words of U.S. Senators Cruz (R-Texas), Cotton (R-Arkansas), and Blackburn (R-Tennessee) in this brief space. Trust me when I say that volumes could be written about these individuals who are devoid of an ounce of logic, honesty, or credibility. I long ago decided that I would no longer participate in discussions that hold as much promise as talking to the wind.

Yet, I have tired of the lackadaisical manner that Democratic Party leaders respond to the never-ending attacks of a segment of the Republican Party that do not even seek to hide their racial bigotry. These Republican political leaders such as Rafael Edward Cruz aka ‘Ted’ Cruz are interested in nothing more than the continuation of far too lengthy political careers. Things have gotten so bad that in regards to the spineless Rafael Edward Cruz that it would be no stretch for one to hear the following conversation.

  • Person A: “Did you hear what Cruz believes?”
  • Person B: “No, I haven’t spoken to him in the last hour.”

Unfortunately, in America, the racism virus that breeds irrational thoughts and fears has infected a sizable portion of our White countrymen and caused them to consider any semblance of the sharing of politico-economic power to be a significant threat to their privileged status. Last year that threat was the Black Lives Matter Movement, this year it has been the ominous threat posed by Critical Race Theory, at the present moment it is the looming confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson; only the Lord knows what the next fabricated threat will be.

The time has come for Democratic Party leaders, yes, that means both members of the Congressional Black Caucus and their White colleagues to take a bold step forward with well-deserved counter-attacks against political opponents that highlight their devotion to racial bigotry. Such a pro-active strategy is bound to be more effective than the silence so many of our elected officials substitute for substantive political strategy and leadership.

Make no mistake about it, America is at war with itself, however, the lines of war are less about Race and more so about those who believe that the creeds of this nation should apply to all citizens versus those who do not.

Which side will our democratically elected political officials support?

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

 

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African-American Girls, African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Girls, Black Males, EDUCATION, RACE

Reflections on the Middle School Students Attack on a 73-year-old Substitute Teacher from Cardi B and Me

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It is difficult to believe that Black America has no idea of the educational crisis that has enveloped our people in the post-Brown v. Board of Education (1954) period. The voluminous interlocking problems are too numerous to list in this short space. However, it is safe to say that a non-representative curriculum and teacher force and the lack of parental involvement are near the top of the list of issues afflicting our schools. There may not be a more actionable item on this list than the wild and often criminal behavior of some Black children and their parents toward educators. After all, every one of us has attended some school and should therefore not be shocked by what can be best termed decades-long piss-poor behavior of some, certainly not the majority, Black students in our learning centers.

Although this is nothing new, there is a growing trend among American teachers to leave the noble profession after only a few years of exposure to the students and the entire educational system. On their way out the door, many teachers cite the deplorable behavior of someone’s child and marginal wages that render them the working-poor as reasons for their exit and vow to never return to any classroom.

It is difficult to argue against the assertion that many within our midst have placed no value on education, educators, or their children’s future. To the surprise of many, I can tell you that this lack of focus on education does not magically disappear in the wake of their high school graduation. Many of these students bring their poor study habits and inability to adhere to stated deadlines in the syllabi they receive on the first day of class into their collegiate lives.

Although it is a frightening thought, I fear that segments of Black America have gone beyond a tipping point where cultural formations that devalue the utility of education are nearly irreversible. I shudder to think that a part of Black students somehow equate the ignoring of educators and a disdaining of learning as the personification of what it means to be Black. They were not born with such a daunting perspective. Many embrace a complete ignorance couched in vulgarity and anti-social behavior best taught by a pack of unthinking hyenas. In the world that they live in, this disruptive minority of Black students has been guided by their environs to believe that decency and politeness are signs of weakness. At the same time, the pursuit of intelligence and proper diction is a sign of a repudiation of Black culture.

So, I was neither surprised nor amused when I witnessed middle school students from DeSoto (TX) ISD throwing a metal chair at a 73-year-old substitute teacher. Left to fend for himself, the discombobulated teacher had little choice than to throw things back at the rabble-rousers.

If I were not eternally committed to elevating Black youth, I would probably agree with others who charge these types of kids are too far gone to be retrieved.

Such a brazen attack on a teacher signals both a failed socialization and the reaffirmation of a culture incapable of sustaining Black America during these turbulent times. The trouble I speak of occurred across several generations. The solution will take longer. Although frightening to consider, the advancement of such lawlessness could result in the severe curtailing of the existence of a particular class of Blacks. In many ways, it appears as if many of my people whose ancestors survived slavery, Jim Crow, the Black Codes, racial segregation, or institutionalized racism have succumbed to a materialistic culture that values things over, people. Ironically, it is the so-called great emancipator Abraham Lincoln whose words best voice my perspective during this tenuous moment.

(Black) America will never fall due to an external aggressor.  

She will fall from within.

If parents, teachers, and other adults in their immediate surroundings cannot reach these kids, who can? Such a question brings us to yet another cultural malady of who does this segment of Black youth values. The influence of rappers, athletes, and social media influencers trumps parents, teachers, and loved ones.

The socialization process within some segments of Black America has gotten so bad that rapper Cardi B has emerged as the leading voice addressing the students who attacked the substitute teacher in Desoto, Texas. After viewing the taped assault of the substitute teacher, Cardi B chimed in with the following tweet.

Disgusting this generation is really lost … I went to school wit a lot of gangstas and no matter what they never put their hands on a teacher …Kids this is not respected, not cool, not funny, not tough, not gangsta ….

— Cardi B (@iamcardib) March 11, 2022

I applaud Cardi B for stepping forward with a denouncing statement. The following does not disrespect Cardi B or any other public figure; however, Black America is in serious trouble if the foremost role model for our children is some figure they know, such as parents, grandparents, or family members.

In actuality, I would like to amend the above statement. Black America remains in serious trouble if the foremost role model for our children is some figure other than family. Although it is a frightening thought, this phenomenon that some strangers will have more influence over a child’s development than those in their immediate environs is nothing new in Black America. As a group historically marginalized from mainstream culture, it was to be expected that we would cheer for Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers over the Larry Bird led Boston Celtics or be glued to the television when a new show prominent featuring a Black cast (Sanford & Son, The Jefferson, The Cosby Show, A Different World) aired. However, the enjoyment of popular culture, even identifying with notable Blacks who had made it big, is different from allowing such figures to be your primary or only socializing agent that shapes your goals, priorities, and worldview.

Yet, non-elite Blacks have always tended to allow famous people to disproportionately influence how they order their lives and the things that they consider markers of success. This unwise choice led to the 1993 Nike campaign, nearly three decades ago, featuring Charles Barkley that sought to deemphasize the role of professional athletes in the lives of children. The commercial focused on Charles Barkley repeatedly stating that “I am not a role model” to any of the millions of viewers watching an NBA game.

If only Black America had listened closely and taken heed to Barkley’s admission regarding his proper role in their lives.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

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POLITICS, RACE

When Will Black America Learn that Rabble-Rousing and Emotionalism is a Poor Substitute for Serious Political Engagement?

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Can I let you in on a little secret of mine? Whelp, here it is.

I have tired of endless circular talk that serves as a poor substitute for the execution of logical political strategy. So, it stands to reason that on the second anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s murder that I was angered when an assembly of Black political leaders and self-proclaimed “revolutionary activists” gathered in her memory and accomplished nothing.

Now, I do not want you to misconstrue what I am saying about the various anniversaries marking the untimely demise of Treyvon Martin, Tamir Rice, George Floyd, or Breonna Taylor. My problem is not with any of the above individuals because they mattered. My issues arise when I examine the actions and apparent motives of those who rush to such memorials and unintentionally turn them into a reminder of the powerlessness of Black elected officials and phrase-mongering revolutionaries. The latter’s limited political understanding reveals them as little more than new millennium black-faced minstrel show performers.

I am saddened most of all that I have seen this same mournful story with the same cast of characters for what seems to be decades, if not centuries.

You know the story. It goes like this.

  • A White person or White institution victimizes some random Black person.
  • Many Blacks rush to the streets to express their righteous indignation through emotionally-charged sound that signifies and accomplishes nothing.
  • (Please insert the name of your least favorite Negro leader in the space below. If you are having difficulty identifying people of such ilk, I have provided a few for you.)
    • Umar Johnson
    • Jamal Harrison Bryant
    • Al Sharpton
  • _______________ arrives on the scene to articulate angst against what has just occurred. Please pay little attention to the reality that this “national level leader” knows little about the community or the people they seek to lead.
  • The accused is found “not guilty” and said Black leader vows to “get to the bottom of this mess” before catching a flight once the publicity dwindles.
  • The same conditions and local political leaders/institutions that facilitated the egregious action remain unchallenged and therefore unchanged.

The repetition of this sordid tale guides my prayer that Black America develops unprecedented political maturity that is not tied to or activated by emotionalism. Such a development would pave the way for them to take the following steps.

  • Register to vote — You have more than enough time to secure the appropriate identification.
  • Educate yourself regarding the political process by attending community forums, watching your local news, or searching the internet for relevant information.
  • Learn the dates that elections are being held in your area and cast your vote.

Trust me when I say that the rabble-rousing of a few individuals regarding racial injustice will NEVER result in securing justice or the prevention of future incidents of mistreatment.

Although I am no conspiracy theorist, I will tell you that the rules of the game of life in America, particularly regarding racial matters, are rigged by those who make the rules and crucial decisions. Any attempt to correct American powerbrokers’ decision-making processes by appealing to a never-seen sense of morality is the same as talking to the wind. It is time that Black America seizes the Black Panther Party’s mantra of “All Power to the People” and divorces themselves from ineffectual public protests that charismatic leaders have tricked them into believing is sufficient to end their misery. Such emotionalism is a poor substitute for political power.

All of the slick-talk, rhetoric, and phrase-mongering in the world will never change the hearts and minds of opponents who understand that the heaven they enjoy on Earth is only possible if Blacks remain politically disorganized and economically foolish. The decision to avoid politics is the same as working with our oppressors.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

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