But for many blacks, it was more than a slap in the face or an insult.  It was about black manhood, about what is expected of black men in the 21st century – and about the attitude towards black women.
The stunning physical altercation between actor Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday has sparked debate over appropriate ways for black men to publicly defend black women against humiliation and abuse.
While many women have long rejected the half-hearted principle that their safety and protection is the province of men, some see Smith’s stated defense of his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, as an act of love and encouragement to those who say that black men do not.  do enough to protect black women.
Ayanna Abrams, a clinical psychologist and founder of Ascension Behavioral Health in Atlanta, said protection from a husband or partner can be different for each woman.
“For some of us, protection seems like something more powerful than talking to someone,” said Abrams, who is a board member of Black Girls Smile, a nonprofit that focuses on mental health. Black girl.
Abrams added, “For some people, protecting black women would be a (Rock) joke that did not happen from the beginning.
But for many observers, protecting black women from verbal abuse is less of a physical assault.
During Sunday’s Oscar broadcast, Smith shocked the Dolby Theater crowd in Los Angeles and millions of viewers when he took to the stage after Rock joked, “Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, I look forward to seeing it.”
It was an unplanned excavation of Pinkett Smith shaved head.  The 50-year-old actress spoke publicly about the diagnosis of alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, as well as the negative effect it can have on the sense of identity and self-esteem.  When Pinkett Smith rolled her eyes in displeasure at Rock’s joke, her Oscar-nominated husband took to the stage and slapped the presenter in the face with his open hand.
After returning to his seat, Smith shouted to Rock twice, “Keep my wife’s name out of your mouth.”
Baruch College professor Shelly Eversley said Smith’s language towards Rock left her questioning whether the actor’s motive for slapping the comedian was an act of love.
“My wife – take my wife’s name out of your mouth – is a sense of property ownership,” said Eversley, who is interim chair of Baruch’s Black and Latin Studies program.
“In the history of racial slavery and violence against black women, we can certainly see all the ways in which black women in particular are treated as property,” she said.  “Blacks do no better than whites do.”
Black men and women in the United States have turned to gender roles that historians say have their roots in the slavery and Jim Crow experience, at a time when they support each other by defying a slave or power figure who called for violence. or even worse.  Amid legal apartheid and systemic racism, disproportionate poverty and mass imprisonment, generations of black men have grown up believing that success in life involves protecting their husband’s honor and defending his family from danger in a society controlled by them. whites.
And on the surface, this is not entirely different from the expectations of generations of white American men and men of other ethnic and racial backgrounds.
However, times have changed.  Today, behavior like Smith’s slap at the Oscars is more likely to be condemned as the result of an uncontrollable ego than to be hailed as a fair defense of a black woman, Eversley said.
“Jada Pinkett (Smith) is not a girl in distress,” she said.  “The idea that somehow Will Smith should be applauded for treating her as having no voice or her own delegation is also a problem.”
“The fact that he can get away from this kind of violence on national television, return to his place, receive an award and then go to a party,” Eversley continued. its not really relevant.  he defends his wife but his own ego “.
As he tearfully accepted the Best Actor award for “King Richard”, Smith apologized to the academy and nominees for tearing up an event that, until slapped Rock, was full of historic firsts for color, LGBTQ representation, The Community of the deaf, it all happens in a room where blacks have struggled to be represented.
In a statement issued Monday, Smith acknowledged that his behavior was “unacceptable and unforgivable” and apologized to Rock for failing to deliver during the acceptance speech.
“Jokes against me are part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me and I reacted emotionally,” Smith said.  “I’m a project in progress.”
After condemning the actor’s behavior in a statement on Monday, the academy said it would consider whether Smith would face other consequences as a member of the academy.
Smith has described caring for loved ones as a kind of lifelong mission and act of repentance.  In his best-selling memoir “Will,” released last fall, he recalled watching his father hit his mother so hard that he fell and spat blood.  Smith was 9 years old at the time and would punish himself for a long time for not defending his mother, even fantasizing about killing his father as an act of revenge.
“In everything I’ve done since – awards and accolades, spotlights and attention, characters and laughter – there was a subtle line of apology to my mother for my inaction that day,” Smith wrote. .  “For her failure right now. For her failure to stand up to my father. Because I was a coward.”
Phillip Agnew, activist and co-founder of Black Men Build, an ethnic group focusing on empowering and educating black men, said he rejected the racist and media-perpetuated idea that black men were less protective or loved. spouses, families and communities from others.
But some response to Smith’s behavior at the Oscars, especially from those who saw his confrontation with Rock as an example of protecting black women, is proof of how low the bar has been set, he said.
“Protecting black women is absolutely about how we engage in our relationships, both intimate and platonic,” said Agnew.  “But it also includes speaking out against people of all colors and genders who pursue policies that do not protect black women, that represent television shows and entertainment programs that are not intended to build black women.”
“If your real goal was to protect your spouse’s honor and integrity, there were probably better ways to do it,” he said of Smith’s actions.
The Oscar controversy came at the end of a week that included a different approach to defending a black woman.  Senator Cory Booker, a black Democrat from New Jersey, delivered a widely praised speech that repelled the belligerent interrogation by his Republican counterpart against Judge Kentaji Brown Jackson, who is poised to become the first black woman to be convicted. of the USA.
“Here you have faced insults that have been shocking to me,” Booker said on the third day of Jackson’s affirmative hearings last Wednesday.
“You have won this position. You are worthy. You are a great American,” the senator continued, drawing tears from Jackson and others who listened intently.
Paige Brooks, deputy director of Black Girls Smile, said there was some value in discussing the Oscars incident.
“The story of black women being used as jokes in front of mostly white audiences, for the sake of laughter and without taking into account the humanity of black women and girls, is something this country has been doing for so long.”  he said.
“At least that makes people talk, for better or for worse.”
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AP writers Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles, Leanne Italie, Hillel Italie and Deepti Hajela in New York, and Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City contributed.