OOOH Jussie Smollet, You in Danger Gurl!

Not since Robert Mueller, have the words “special prosecutor" permeated the lexicon, and Fox's EMPIRE former star, Jussie Smollet, is bringing it back. It seems that Jussie Smollet may not be as free as he thinks.  A judge in the city of Chicago has appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate how local prosecutors originally handled his case.  Now it appears that some people are going to have to answer to how this was actually resolved. I would be remiss to say, like many of my brothers and sisters under the LGBT+ umbrella,  after hearing many of the facts before and after leading up to the "dismissal" of charges, I gave a fair amount of side eye, followed with a #ByeFelicia. 

Crying a River with Jussie Smollet

No one reading this can still say that they do not have their own theories about the events that transpired that fateful evening in January when asked.  Comedian Dave Chappelle has a hilarious take on it.  I have one too, but I would like to take a more mature approach to try to understand some of this. 

We do live in a society where the alleged homophobic nature of what might have happened to Jussie is not new news.  It certainly isn't unusual to hear stories of unarmed black men being attacked and sometimes killed for no reason, either.  So when the story broke about Jussie, it is not hard to see how the LGBT+ and African-American communities INSTANTLY made appropriate noise.  Having to backtrack the rage is what hurts, if it really proves to be a hoax. The Chicago Police Department did their due diligence to investigate this matter, even more so because of the "celebrity" involved.  I also put quotation marks around celebrity, because there are people who even now do not know who Jussie Smollet is.

Jussie Smollet Mugshot

Since the charges were dismissed. We have seen the Police Chief, Eddie T. Johnson , talking to the media like a black father that wants to beat his child's behind for showing out in public, but he can't because there are too many people watching. The overtime hours and resources used to investigate the alleged attack revealed a few holes in Mr. Smollet’s story, and evidence started pointing to a possible hoax.  Prosecutors, after producing a litany of charges, eventually dropped them without any “real” explanation. Because the city of Chicago and its Police Department have a very strained relationship at best on the issue of race relations, you can understand the anger that Chief Johnson has as a black man and an officer of the law. So it seems that the anger and concern have shifted to HOW this situation has been handled by the original prosecution team.

Angry Police Chief

To understand how any of this is possible, we must own that we live in a country that was founded by folks that did not care to integrate with but chose to dominate over marginalized people. And because of our unwillingness as a country and as a society to confront things like poverty, misogyny, homophobia, and racism head on,  it makes the concept of peaceful coexistence almost nonexistent. Yet, racism and classism always seem to just stick in our craw as a country. They’re both really the Achilles Heel of America. 

Because of its prevalence, racism is the low hanging fruit that seems to get plucked from the tree on a regular when it comes to the news.    And as we try to find jokes in the BBQ Becky’s of the world, we cannot forget how Susan Smith almost convinced us that black men stole her car and drowned her babies.  It’s so easy for race to be used when it is marginalized people that are the “perpetrators”, and white people are the victims.  We have to move heaven and hell for any semblance of justice when the situation is reversed. Like in the case of Eric Garner’s chokehold death at the hands of white police officers, a 5 year wait is a long time for the amount of justice actually served. 

I say all of this because what Jussie allegedly may have done, is to use the very hatred and ignorance in this country to create more opportunities for himself.  Is that a smart choice? Not really, especially if it involves you having to get your butt beat up on a cold Chicago street, but I digress. It’s also not a smart choice, because his supposed “boy who cried wolf” action may have set race and LGBT+ relations back about 10 years. The height of the hurdles that the next victim will have to jump to prove that it happened will be really high.

I admit that this Special Prosecutor also sounds like a no nonsense, get convictions, kind of person.   There is a lot of talk that some powerful people may have allegedly called in a few favors to help get Mr. Smollet's original charges dismissed.  Considering that there is now a video of him with the police explaining the noose portion of the attack with fresh rope at his apartment, it is going to be a tough one to dismiss again.  It also does not help that many of his ardent supporters that were super passionate about his experience with no information, are now oddly diplomatic and distantly supportive after the reveal of some of the contradictions in his story. Oddly enough, it seems as if they are going to try to make something stick this time.  Of course, it’s the law with a mission going after a black man, and a gay one, at that.

If this turns out to be a hoax (side eye), then here's a question: is there ANYONE in his circle that could have said," you want to do WHAT?" And now the dilemma becomes for me, how do I support my privileged yet misguided young brother? Because the black man side of me is angry that he allegedly used such hateful and raw pieces of our history to possibly advance his career, and the gay side of me is saying “ QWEEN, please!!!” In either case, perhaps Mr. Smollet might want to think of what he is really going to do, because it doesn’t look like this is going to be over for him anytime soon. As for EMPIRE'S Jamal, he's being sent to England with his husband, pending all of this legal madness. Mr. Smollet needs to only ask comedian Mo'nique, what happens to Lee Daniels' support of you and your talent when your actions start messing with his money, honey?

©Keith Price 2019