EDITOR, The Tribune.

Over the past several days most of us have seen the Chris Rock/Will Smith showdown at the Oscars. My honest question to you is this: What if Chris Rock had been a white comedian say on par with one of the late night TV comedy hosts, do you think Will Smith would have slapped Chris Rock in a public venue?

My thoughts are Will Smith carefully thought about his actions as every young person knows Will and Chris had been beefing for a number of years, however Will saw an opportunity to up his stature in the eyes of the public- after all he is always portrayed as a "bad boy" in most of his movie roles. Will took this chance and decided to do what he did as he knew the public would react as they do whenever there is black on black crime. Thoughts being its blacks killing blacks, let them kill themselves, this seems to be the attitude in the "hood" where the killing of black men and boys is the norm. The uproar seems to only come when a crime or murder is committed against blacks killing whites,there seems to be less uproar if a white kills a black. This seems to be a universal trait which I fail to this day to understand.

Will Smith would not have slapped a white comedian as the powers to be in Hollywood would not have allowed him to get "off" with it, Hollywood would have banned Will, his wife and kids from ever earning a dollar again in Hollywood. He would have found it difficult to make a decent living and his career would have all been finished.

Will by some is considered from the streets, and is portrayed as a bad "ass" in his movie roles, so he carefully calculated that his act would go unpunished as is done in the hood. Let’s keep it 100- do you in your right mind think Will would have swung on Snoop Dog, Kanye, or Fifty Cent? If you do then you too are delusional. Black on black crime is real - just look around us here on this 7X21 piece of dirt how black on black crime is a daily occurrence whether it ends in death or injury, it seems we have a hate-love relationship with ourselves, friends and family. You would think that after 400 years of slavery the programming that the masterful slave holders did to our ancestors would have been washed away from our DNA.

Yes, Will understood the consequences of bringing violence on another black man...little to no punishment. If a white comedian had been slapped on stage in public, say by Kanye or Will Smith, Kanye and Will would be somewhere living in the deserts of California looking for work.

After 400 years of slavery the universal black man is still in dire need of reprogramming, retrofitting from the damage done to them from their former masters. Black on black crime is real and most as in monopoly the game goes past jail, while black on white crime is severely punished - just compare both doing the same crime then check to see the vast difference in sentencing here on this l’il rock as well as in America.

Chris Rock may have been wrong for making fun of a medical condition Will’s wife suffers from, but Chris walks away the winner as few men would have been able to contain themselves without striking back in front of millions of viewers. Maybe, just maybe, this one incident of self discipline may be the beginning of self control for all of us men of colour around the world.

DR DEREK PINDER

Nassau,

March 29, 2022.