Jessica Morgan
(Picture: Handout)In November 2020, I witnessed a suicide on the Victoria Line at Finsbury Park. It was one of the most traumatic incidences I’ve ever experienced and it severely affected my mental health. I had undergone trauma therapy, as well as visited my GP for PTSD treatment. While I had made somewhat of a mental health recovery in early 2021, I began to notice the physical effects of the trauma. My eyebrows, which were once thick and bushy, had completely disappeared and it changed my face. The mental toll of which meant that I struggled with my confidence for the majority of the year, scared to leave my house without pencilling new eyebrows to replace the ones that were once there. My eyebrows were part of my identity. It was only in early 2022 when I eventually saw the GP, was when I was told that I had developed alopecia – hair loss of the eyebrow – as a result of stress.
During Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, Chris Rock chose to take a swipe at Jada Pinkett Smith. “I love you, Jada. But I can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2,” he said, referring to her shaved head. Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes and looked visibly upset before Rock continued: “that was a nice one” which was followed by laughs from the audience. Seconds later, Pinkett Smith’s husband, Will, walked calmly onto the stage and slapped Rock in front of a stunned audience (and viewers watching live at home). “Keep my wife’s name out of your f****** mouth,” he said when he returned to his seat. My reaction twinned with Lupita Nyong’o’s.
Pinkett Smith has spoken candidly about her struggles with alopecia, and on one occasion said that her hair loss has left her “shaking with fear”. In December 2021, she took the decision to shave her hair completely. It takes utmost courage and bravery to stand up to a disease like alopecia. And for many Black women, our hair is our crown, our armour and a powerful symbol of our identity.
For Chris Rock to make a low blow joke about a serious condition that many women, and many Black women, suffer from is despicable. It’s even more of a gut punch coming from him, who is undoubtedly aware of the sensitivities around this topic since he produced the 2009 documentary, Good Hair, in which he examined the intricacies of Black women’s relationship with their hair. On Sunday, Chris felt he had a free pass to make a mockery out of hair loss by humiliating a Black woman for cheap laughs. What may have been a “joke” to him was a distasteful attempt at knocking down a Black woman in front of a room of people who will never understand, let alone experience, what she would have felt at that moment.
Black women are consistently the subject of emotional, physical and mental abuse while the world sits around and laughs, or worse, stays silent. Will’s reaction may have not been the right one, but it was a clear show of solidarity to any woman, and any Black woman, who has been abused.
“Only the fifth Black man in nearly 100 years to win an Oscar for male lead, and the first in 16 years, resorts to violence instead of utilising the power of words to slay Chris Rock. Then he claims God and Love made him do it,” says British author Bernadine Evaristo. What connection, exactly, does Will’s accolade have with defending his wife’s honour? What relevance does the Academy Award’s lack of diversity have anything to do with standing up to bullying and misogynoir? If we suggest that if one Black person slips up, we all slip up, that’s a dangerous hill to die on. We are not a monolith. We can debate all day whether Will’s actions were right or wrong, but bringing the whole Black community into it is not the way to do it.
“At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the Devil comes for you,” were the words Denzel Washington uttered to Smith after the slap. It reminds me of the “two wrongs never make a right” my father used to tell me growing up. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but if you’re faced with multiple boundaries being crossed, it calls for serious action. And sometimes that action is a result of an emotional response to something sensitive.
That slap was a human reaction to disrespect and injustice. It was an act of solidarity with Black women and Black women who are suffering in silence. It will serve as a constant reminder to all, and Chris, to never cross that line again. While many believe that Will overshadowed his Oscar win, he will always be known as the Black man who fiercely defended his wife from public humiliation. I can only thank Will for being the change we want to see in this world, and for standing by all the people who have ever been humiliated, ridiculed and made to feel small for simply surviving.
