Over the past 72 hours, I have learned more about the life of Jussie Smollett than anyone needs or deserves to know. I am a black man and because of his alleged disrespect for a movement that I have been a part of since 1968, which includes marching, letter writing, speeches, and protest; I recognize the damage. With all that said, America is willing to accept domestic terrorism, a direct threat from Vladimir Putin and a United States President who vouched for ‘fine people’ of the KKK, as a lesser problem.
In our foolish zeal to be entertained instead of being informed, the biggest story in the country is an actor that most of America could not pick out from a lineup two weeks ago. He has now been elevated to public enemy number one. I am not trying to belittle a group of fine actors, one of whom [Taraji P. Henson] has won an academy award and the other appeared in the film [Hustle and Flow] that won an Oscar for best song. Truthfully, Smollett is a small-time supporting actor in a nighttime soap opera [Empire]. On the grand scale of things, Mr. Smollett has done far more damage to himself than the world.
Cesar Sayoc…
…is a name you have not heard in probably 4 months. Not forty years or four years but four months. Mr. Sayoc sent a series of 14 pipe bombs to politicos, and news organizations creating so much fear it necessitated an on-air evacuation at CNN. Yesterday Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49 was revealed to have amassed a cache of weapons and a hit list of what he perceived as liberal targets to annihilate. This was on the heels of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin issuing a direct military threat to the United States, “ if America deploys its’ weapons [to Europe] Russia "will be forced — I want to emphasize this — forced to take tit-for-tat steps."
Yet despite the revelation from former acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe that the current President of the United States, for lack of a better description, may be working for the interest of Vladimir Putin, instead is balancing its’ attention on the tip of a pinhead over Jamal Lyon. Even my local news station led off with the teaser, “more bad news for actor Jussie Smollett.”
Trust me when I say I am fully aware of what the Chicago case has done and will do to the black and LGBTQI communities. A racist will use this as a poster for false claims of blacks playing the “race card.” The reality is racist could not care less about the real problems of either community this is just something for them to use as a canopy to cover their own immorality. As a result, I could not care less about what Fox News or right-wing radio reports, like my skin being used as a costume, it is a mask for them. I do care about the Americans who have taken little time to think to themselves, “does Mr. Smollett need psychological help? There was a time in recent America when empathy trumped the incendiary.