Writer Photos Darrell J Banks

And the dis-com-bob-ulated nature of America

By Darrell J Banks

Cr 2022

THE SLAP

Remember when America appeared to work.   There was Sidney Poitier, stoically saying they call me Mr. Tibbs.  ( THANKS Oprah for the documentary) Slapping back those who offended him on the motion picture screen. One could never imagine  Sidney, Mr. Oscar Sidney slapping anyone in real life.  He endured much.

Which takes me to the dis in my title.

Back  in the day Will Smith had issues with an actress on the Fresh Prince of Belair.  She left  he continued with his career arch.

Jada meanwhile was vilified for her nude rule in Jason’s Lyric.

Back when Jada had hair be it wig or weave or natural growth she was known as the tough one. 

The little  tough one on screen who could hold her own water.

So when Jada rolled her eyes at Will when he laughed at the Rocks,  no Chris Rock’s funny joke well.  It  was a great diss. She could  have taken  a punch.  But as Chloe said I’m still human and  when it comes to  my body that shit hurts.

It was funny. Still. I laughed, Will laughed,  most of the audience laughed.  It’s what a normal  human reaction would be.  But in times like  these as the Dame said in  Chronicles of Riddick.

That’s a no no.  But what is acceptable?

Combulation- What is a combulation? If one looks at the current state of America you have to wonder if Will, Jada and Chris reflect the true example or experiences  of  current day Americana.

Is everyone a victim or in need of an apology, a check or rehabilitation?  Charlize Theron recently addressed her me too moment two years after that movement seems to have disappeared.  She was  told to  dress this way.  Walk this way.  Was it in the astronaut  movie with Johnny Depp.  Classic moments in life.

We are enthralled by the Johnny Depp trial  more so then the  Buffalo Massacre, the  Uvalde Massacre and  the Oklahoma Massacre. Since I began this article their have been school shootings in Russia.   Young Latina’s dead from fentanyl  and  we don’t seem to miss a beat.

We think, things are fine. We hope things don’t deteriorate into a nuclear war with  Russia or China Or as an associate said some of us hope that the authoritarians are not let back in  the door in  2022 and 2024.

But have  we already accepted the COMBULATION, given up,  accepted and acknowledged that fires, hurricanes, and asteroids will eventually destroy human kinds.

FUCK IT.

When Will slapped  Chris along time ago in the twitter verse.  Well  you can  say that force makes right was the rule of the day.  How did the Oscars respond?  Nicole, Charlize clapped when Will made his speech.  Art verses reality.

Or as Thomas and others have written they understood the whole equation of movie making.

It’s about the art the money or is it something else.

They didn’t take away his Oscar.  Like other authoritarians, Will was advised  after he danced and partied  to apologize.   ( He later apologized via the gram to Chris)

The Oscar bosses said he could  not  attend etc. the Oscars for ten  years.  He can  still win be nominated etc.   A few of his projects were canceled and he went on a sojourn to India.

Meanwhile and ex fbf  Janet Yang became president  of the Academy.

Com bu lation.

Online dictionaries define dis combu lated as follows:  confused and disconcerted..

Perhaps we failed to notice Will and  Jada back in the 1990’s when through their characters they revealed what was to eventually happen in 2022.

Personally I was confused about “the slap”   I  saw King Richard Will Smith provided a great performance in King Richard, it was better then his  role in  Ali or Concussion.

It was a  role Sidney Poitier could have played.

He had advanced from  his  Wild West Days and his ladies’ man roles  in Bad Boys and those other films.  He was afraid, strong willed and purposeful.  He was an actor who was not discombobulated.

But I regress or retort as Samuel Jackson said in  Pulp Fiction.

What!

I dare  you mother fucker say what one  more time.

What were Denzel and Samuel and Nicole and Charlize and Bradley Cooper doing reconciling and clapping for the authoritarian?

What would Sidney do?

I was totally discombobulated by  these actions,  which takes me to my comparison to what is happening to America.

Are you shocked confused by the massacres in Buffalo, Uvalde etc.?

THE THOUGHT PROCESS

I am numbed, discombobulated.

Which lets me end this over extended thought process.

Along time ago, I met someone who said Will and Jada were cool, the next time  I adventured  to California go up to Brentwood.   At that time I was in a local suburban Starbucks.   This person told me Will and Jada hung out there.

Now in the early two thousands I never saw anyone  at a Star Bucks’  Beverly Hills nope   Pacific  Palisades nope.

But I met and spoke to Chris Rock at a suburban mall after he was  in that President movie and concluded a concert tour.

So spin this up to 2022 would I dare be seen with Will and Jada.

Several  production companies have cancelled deals with  Wil Smith.  Jada meanwhile  continues her red table talks.   In the twitter verse I heard she covered the Oscars recently. ( Pass)

I understand the whole equation of film.  Since Will has been cancelled one of the Williams sisters has retired and taken a bow.

Charlize is now mostly a producer.

Nicole keeps cashing her checks.

So would  I work with Will or Jada. Yes because well  hey we still buy things from Amazon and Starbucks and we know their records  in dealing with unions, etc.

I cannot be a hypocrite on everything.

True Americana?

Which takes me back to America, authoritarianism and the slap. 

 On twitter some thought the  Oscars’ punishment was too much ten years, after all what happened to that director, that one,  this one, the other one. Weinstein?

If  Will  and  Jada wanted to option or buy the rights to my books would I sale.

Of course, that’s Hollywood.  Would my books get greenlighted at a major studio?  Most likely not in the next ten years. But since Chris they have found another person to light up. ( Guess who aint working right now, and aint coming to dinner)

So how does this relate to  Buffalo, Uvalde etc.

We have accepted things;   Denzel, Bradley and Samuel comforting the aggressor.   Charlize and Nicole clapping for the  aggressor.

After all does it really matter that Will slapped Chris?

Russia invaded the Ukraine. A beautiful young Latina has died in a bathroom from a drug  imported into or manufactured within America’s borders. It kills kids and adults every day.

FUCK FENTANYL

While some of us not me, light up a legal  joint and place 10 k down  via our phones on next week’s college football game.

I’m not trying to be the morality police.  Jada and Will are seeking enlightenment.  If not this life, maybe the next?

Does it matter that  Will can  afford to  sit down for ten years? What affect will it have on the 2022 Oscar viewers, when the camera pans the audience for black attendees?

Does it matter that racism, school shootings and drug overdoses  will happen as  sure as it  was in the sixties you would drink  chocolate milk and eat a fish with cheese for lunch every Friday?

That I ask the reader is the question each of us must answer for ourselves.

Ciao.