Forbes, you have got to be trolling us. Seriously. Someone observed Monday that Forbes now has a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion banner, and it looks like they’re milking it. As Twitchy reported Monday, Forbes published a piece on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars written by Janice Gassam Asare, who “helps create strategies for more diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Asare’s take was that jokes are always made at the expense of black women, and she then proceeded to cite the confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson as evidence. We must have missed the jokes.
On the same day, Maia Niguel Hoskin published her take on Will Smith under Forbes’ Diversity, Equity & Inclusion banner. While talking about Will Smith’s behavior, she says, don’t forget to discuss the “white supremacist respectability politics” that helped make it happen.
Oh no! @Forbes has an article by a critical race theorist who says white supremacy caused Will Smith to hit Chris Rock. Not a satire. It’s real. “While Talking About Will Smith’s Behavior, Don’t Forget To Also Talk About The System That Helped Create It” https://t.co/RokjIj26Ib
— Christina Sommers 🇺🇦 (@CHSommers) March 29, 2022
https://twitter.com/MaiaNHoskin/status/1508475204820869126
No, really, you didn’t have to give your two cents. Hoskin writes:
[Smith] also shared that he has had to turn the other cheek in previous incidents in which he felt disrespected throughout his career, “You gotta smile you gotta pretend like that’s OK,” he said. Well, I suppose last night, The Fresh Prince was fed up. And perhaps, rightfully so. I do not condone violence, nor do I think hauling off and slapping the taste out of Rock’s mouth was the ideal reaction. But I do have empathy for a man who works in an industry that promotes stepin and fetchit politics and asks for Blacks and other people of color to grin and bear experiences of embarrassment and degradation or risk being labeled as angry or aggressive.
This is not about Will Smith and Chris Rock being Black or Will Smith “setting Black people back” or any other overly claims that I have heard in response to last night’s incident. This is about a much larger systemic issue rooted in White supremacist culture designed to police the behavior of Blacks amongst the who’s who in Hollywood and beyond. Respectability politics suggest that equity and fair treatment require that Black people — both inside and outside of Hollywood — conduct ourselves in a manner deemed acceptable to Whites. Furthermore, expressing any emotion other than complacence, apathy, or agreeance directly violates those norms, disqualifying us from receiving the same equitable treatment that Whites enjoy as a birthright. And sadly, there is a large group of Black folks who have internalized this toxic messaging.
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Hoskin has a Ph.D. but in what her bio doesn’t say. Why are they always professors?
Had a friend jokingly say that we’d see an article like this come out. We had a good laugh about it. We’re still laughing.
— Jason Kamler (@JKamler) March 29, 2022
Glad to see even your followers are calling this out. It’s a really sad outlook.
— Hello (@Hello44318044) March 29, 2022
this is seriously beyond absurd. illogical and irrational and lacking any serious analysis…but it does have every possible buzzword and designed to get "likes" from others
— Jay Eskenazi, Ph.D. (@jayeskenazi) March 29, 2022
You should have kept your two cents
— Sun Zoo (@rubthemtogether) March 29, 2022
Is this meant to be a joke?
— Ramapithecus Descendant (@DasOptimist) March 29, 2022
Only an academic could come up with such absurd take.
— ArturoSan🥋 (@ArturoSama) March 29, 2022
The female brain in action folks. Yikes
— Pixie St. Claire (@pixie_st) March 29, 2022
3 likes 😂
— Dr. Seesay Pwodway, PhD (@lilacsnlavender) March 29, 2022
As a working class white man I’m so ashamed of the role I played encouraging one Black multi-millionaire celebrity to slap another Black multi-millionaire comic whose joke about his wife was in poor taste.
What was that role again?
— The Loon (@mdlonergan) March 29, 2022
So basically you’re saying that black violence should be accepted because white supremacy tells you not to assault people? Is that the message you’re sending?
— Silence DoGood (@Silence52794611) March 29, 2022
“Respectability politics… require that Black people …conduct ourselves in a manner deemed acceptable to whites.”
In anthropology we've often seen the doctrine of cultural relativism used to justify the racist bigotry of low expectations. Looks like you've just done that.
— Neil Thin (@NeilThin) March 29, 2022
It took nearly a whole day for someone to blame white supremacy on a black man slapping a black man. What took you so long?
It must suck to be you. Seek help.
— Chuck T. Danforth (@ChuckTDanforth) March 28, 2022
How lame to excuse someone from responsibility & accountability. What Will Smith did was commit criminal battery in front of the world & instead of being evicted he was awarded & given ovations. That is minority privilege. If a White man had done it he would have arrested.
— CJ Black (@cjblack2) March 29, 2022
It’s a garbage take, which absolves the guilty based on their skin color. Disgusting.
— Joe Smith (@joesmithactual) March 29, 2022
So apparently you are unaware that we live in a society that governs itself in such a way that people can live without fear of physical assault over words.
Or are you just so blatantly racist against black people that you are trying to suggest that black people are incapable?
— Herp Derp (@HerpDer34821901) March 29, 2022
This is so embarrassing. Like a caricature of ultra-wokeness.
— Critical Race Quotations (@CritRacePapers) March 29, 2022
@Forbes should be embarrassed for publishing this nonsense.
— Don Keediq (@don_keediq) March 29, 2022
I know it’s tough to fill jobs right now but come on @Forbes
— Joesphjoe118 (@joesphjoe118) March 29, 2022
It’s honestly difficult to pick the worst take we’ve seen on the Will Smith/Chris Rock dustup. Smith assaulted Rock, who was big enough not to file charges. Smith is awarded his Oscar and walks. “I’m not saying I approve of violence, but ….”
Related:
Antiracist blue-check explains that white people find Will Smith slapping Chris Rock disturbing because ‘black emotions scare white people’ https://t.co/fAX0WNgJ0y
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 28, 2022
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