I’m Upset So I Can’t Think Of A Witty Title

I’m upset, disappointed and angry. When I first heard the news of Jussie Smollett’s alleged attack my first thought was, “shit, please let this be true”. I shared my feelings with a few friends who were curious why I hadn’t written anything about the incident. I let them know that I felt ashamed I would have such a horrible thought about someone’s possible pain & suffering, but I also couldn’t shake this feeling of skepticism and wariness of his account of the events. I’m pretty comfortable with the notion that if you’re out alone at 2 in the morning in some sketchy neighborhood it’s not because you wanted a sandwich from Subway. A couple of times I did think of writing something but I’m glad I listened to the voice of caution in my head which said, wait.

So now the supposed victim has become the alleged perpetrator & suspect. And still, I can’t help but hold out hope that his story miraculously turns out to be true. And if it turns out to be true, I will happily apologize. However, if in fact the allegations of him staging the whole thing are what is proven true, there’s no excuse I will accept for his privileged unethical selfishness. How dare he do this to a community already doubly marginalized by irrational hate and bigotry. And don’t get me wrong. I know that those who now choose to dismiss hate crimes because of Jussie Smollett probably would have done so before him anyway. It’s not like if his allegations were true all the bigoted people would suddenly disappear. Homophobes and racists will always exist. But he has helped to create additional obstacles for victims. In one fell swoop he has managed to feed the trolls and energize and embolden the bigoted naysayers who challenge victims of both homophobic and racist hate crimes. It’s disrespectful to actual victims and will only help to make it harder for them to report hate crimes. He owes apologies to those actual victims. He owes apologies to those who advocated and spoke up on his behalf. He owes apologies to us, his family.