In the background the after-show is playing and Kareem Abdul-Jabar is dropping knowledge from his 75 years of life about how we got to what is modern black culture. He’s talking about what Chris Rock said just a few minutes hence on his Netflix Comedy special–The first live Netflix Comedy special ever. I had a wonderful time listening to him drop jokes and finally have a chance to internationally air his grievances about Will Smith just shy of a year to the day. In truth he was so amped up about the affair that he actually screwed up the joke. Of course, he hit the other 11. He went so hard that I had a moment where I turned to my partner and gave her the ‘stop the fight’ look. He talked about selective outrage and how Will knew he could hit him and he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. He talked about the reason Will went at him like that. He talked about the personal stuff (that Will’s wife took public) that led up to that. All of this culminating in an evisceration of a man that Rock once admired.
I think I needed this special. I think I needed a moment where people talked about the journey I’ve been trying to make since I realized who I was and the level of life I wanted to live. I think that journey is different for a black man on many levels and, honestly, it feels really good to hear that situation reflected by someone I truly admire and see has gone through the work to be the man he is today.