Will Smith, Chris Rock and Ketanji Brown Jackson: It’s All Related and It’s Layered

Let’s also talk about Lupita, Denzel, Tyler, Bradley…and Jada

“What is joke to you is death to me.”

— my late, great Jamaican grandfather

I wouldn’t be surprised if “the slap that was heard around the world” became the subject of the next Red Table Talk: Jada, Will and Chris, sitting around a table, unpacking what happened that warm March evening when Will Smith very ceremoniously knocked the Chris Rock upside the head. For the under-the-rock-dwellers, here’s what I’m talking about for the sake of context:

I think one thing that’s been made clear to me given allll of the opinions I’ve read online is that the way you view this will depend on your social location. Whether you are male, female, queer or non-binary, whether you are Black or White, whether you are an African American or an African, whether you are famous or infamous, whether you are young or old, whether you live with an illness such as an autoimmune disease or not, whether you are a survivor of violence or grew up with it in the home, and all of the intersections thereof, all of that is going to shape the lens through which you view this event.