Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock | Kanye West on Culture | Broken Mirrors | The Mister Brown Show Podcast
Welcome to this episode of The Mister Brown Show where we do “Real talk, real life, real choices.” In this episode we talk about “the slap heard round the world,” black culture, and broken mirrors.
Separating Mister Brown & The Choose Well Program
I currently have a contract to speak at 13 schools! I am so excited to work with these kids and teach them about the power of their choices; and to give them hope! So many of these kids simply need hope.
Recently, our team has been working on separating me as “Mister Brown” from The Choose Well Program. I want to be able to have a voice as Mister Brown without jeopardizing my ability to work with The Choose Well Program and teach kids about their choices. I don’t want my opinions as Mister Brown to affect my message to kids through The Choose Well Program, because my message with The Choose Well Program will always be about choices and giving kids hope. I legally changed my name to Mister Brown so that I can be the same person on stage when I am speaking as I am when I am off stage. I want The Choose Well Program to be bigger than just Mister Brown. I would love for it to grow bigger than just me and for it to include other speakers and programs! I don’t want my opinion on politics as Mister Brown to jeopardize my ability to talk to kids about the power of their choices; because those are two separate things. I spoke to a student recently and she stated that she didn’t live with her biological parents. She told me that she doesn’t know where her mom is and that she “lives under a bridge somewhere.” I tried to encourage this student that those circumstances do not define who she is. You cannot always control your circumstances, but you can always choose how to respond to those circumstances! So choose well. Oh yeah!
Sometimes the people who scream the loudest are the ones who get heard. I want to speak out on some of these cultural or political topics because I have a voice too. Why do we have to peg people with a political affiliation based on one thing that they believe? Some of my opinions may lean to the right, but that doesn’t mean I am a Republican. Some of my opinions may lean to the left, but that doesn’t mean I am a Democrat. I wouldn’t say all Biden supporters are ___ or all Trump supporters are ___or all White people are ___ ; because I think that is laziness. It is not taking the time to look at the argument and instead simply labeling people to avoid having the actual conversation. We need to look at people as people. I don’t like how the left or the right demonizes or categorizes people! We do not all have to fit in the same box in order to have our voices heard! All of the issues and cultural topics in our world are connected to peoples. We need to remember people’s humanity and stop categorizing people in order to avoid “the hard stuff.”
I wanted to explain a little about what I am doing with the Mister Brown Show. I want to be able to talk about things in our culture without being connected to The Choose Well Program; because I am not talking about those things when I visit schools. When I speak at schools I am talking about the power of students' everyday choices. I am encouraging kids to make better choices to overcome peer pressure, the addition of social media and their phones, and the temptations of society. I am teaching them that their choices really do matter!
If you want to know more about everything I do with The Choose Well Program, Proclaim Ministries, Mister Brown, and Life With The Browns, you can check out https://www.thechoosewellgroup.com. They are all separate, but fall under the Choose Well Group umbrella. Because we believe that when you make better choices, you will live a better life. Whether it is your spiritual choices, physical choices, or family choices, it all comes down to choices. Because none of us control everything! However, we can control our choices. So as always, choose well. Oh yeah!
The Slap Heard Round The World
I am going to dip my toe into the big discussion on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. Honestly, I didn’t watch the Oscars and I don't even know the movie that Will Smith got an Oscar for. However, my opinion is that Will Smith was wrong for slapping Chris Rock. I am not, nor do I want to, condemn him, but I do think his choice was wrong.
First off, he wasn’t even arrested for assaulting Chris Rock. Where in this country can you slap someone and not have any consequences? I think if this was a white person who slapped a black person, people would be up in arms over this! So, yes, I think he was wrong. Period. However, I don't think they should take his Oscar away. That was for something that he did previously and separately from his actions at the Oscars. Will Smith assaulted a man for making a joke. A joke is a joke and those are words. Now, words can hurt, but we all have the ability to choose how we will respond to words. I believe Will Smith has also made jokes about people before in his career. So my point is that we all have the power to choose how we respond, and I think Will Smith chose to respond poorly.
You are responsible for you. One thing I teach young kids is that “I am responsible for me.” I demonstrate this with an imaginary tether ball game where I have a student or teacher volunteer to play with me. Before we start playing we talk a little smack, and then we begin playing. I will eventually lose the game and pretend to get mad. I will have the other person start teasing me, and then I will eventually react by pushing them. I will ask the students who believes it is the other person's fault that I pushed them? Surprisingly, many of the students think it is the other person’s fault because they were teasing me. Then, from the students who think it is my fault for pushing them, I look for a very specific answer. I am looking for the answer that it was my fault because “I am responsible for me.”
There are other ways to combat things than just getting up and slapping someone. I think Will Smith was wrong and I think there should have been charges pressed. There should be some accountability for assaulting someone on live TV. The real issue in our country is not about black people and white people. There are a whole different set of rules for those who are considered ‘elites.’ Any one of us could not have gotten away with the same actions as Will Smith without being prosecuted, and that is a problem.
In that moment Will Smith made a bad choice. So my question is will he “Do the next right thing?” That is the only reason I spoke up about this in the first place. Because it demonstrates the power of our choices and the importance of doing “the next right thing.”
Those are my thoughts about what people are calling “the slap heard round the world.”
Culture & Kanye West
I want to talk a little about black culture. Sometimes we point our finger to systemic racism, but we don’t talk about other things such as how we promote people and glorify them as Black History Stars, when they are promoting drugs and violence and calling women “Whores” and “B’s”. I want to talk about how this affects kids, because it affected me.
Here is a video of Kanye West from a few years ago, but it is still so relevant. He was asked his thoughts on people saying that he “turned his back on culture.”
I agree with him! In the music we create and promote, we talk about getting with someone else’s woman, calling them a female dog, and rapping about things that are crimes and would get you “locked up.” Some people say that it is the white man's fault for producing it; but, those people could honestly care less about black and white, they care about the green! I agree with Kanye West and turning his back on the mentality of victimization.
I have always struggled with the idea of wanting to be called “African American.” I want to be an American who is black. Wrong stuff goes on everywhere. There is not a country in the world that is perfect and equal. And I honestly do not see people dying, traveling on foot, and swimming to get to any other country in the world besides America. I think sometimes we become privileged, no matter your skin color, and we don't appreciate all of the things we do have.
I want to clarify that I don’t think rap music is bad. I personally like to listen to positive rap music! I think rap music is great and poetic, but I like to listen to music that has positive messages. Music that helps me think about life in a different way. One of my favorite songs is by Andy Mineo and the lyrics say, “If you don't like me, that’s your problem. But when I let it bother me, that’s my problem. And I got enough problems.” I love those lyrics and I quote them at schools when I speak. Those lyrics represent rap music that is positive and encourages you to think rather than promoting a lifestyle that is dangerous and damaging.
If you disagree with something I said or even with what Kanye West said, let me know! But once you start calling me names, that’s your problem and we have nothing to talk about anymore. Let’s not paint with a broad brush and say “everybody thinks this way” because they agree with ___ or because they are ___. We have to stop looking at colors, labeling people, and putting them in categories. I don't want to be known as “A good black speaker.” I want to be known as a good speaker because I can talk to any group of people, not because of my skin color.
So let me know your thoughts in the comment section, but let's stick to the issues themselves!
Quote Of The Day
My wife has an antique mirror in our hallway and as you walk down the hallway the image of yourself is often a little distorted. Sometimes theme parks will have distorted mirrors as well that make you look fat, skinny, tall, short, etc… The sad thing is that many of us look at ourselves and the world in the very same way. We try to get our reality from broken things such as social media or mainstream media. However, there are so many filters, edits, and preparation for those things. Sometimes they are not accurate representations of reality. They may not be broken, but they can be distorted.
Here is a video of Will Smith talking about the Quote Of The Day. This ties into the podcast today because it is a great example of how one thing that someone does should not be the deciding factor in who they are. Will Smith makes a great point in the video, and it is a great point regardless of his recent actions. A good point is a good point.
“The greatest tragedy is when you look into a broken mirror to see if you are pretty.” Sometimes we may not look in a broken mirror, but we look in distorted mirrors. If I try to look at someone’s life and say that is what my life should look like, that’s wrong. I have some friends who are climbing the corporate ladder and doing great professionally and financially. Sometimes I think, “Should I be like that too?” I think that most of us struggle with that thought sometimes. However, if I compare myself to them and base my value on their mirror, then I am lost. They are doing what they should be doing, and I am doing what God has gifted me with. I need to look at a mirror based on what, and who, God created me to be. For example, when the neighbor kids came over to play with my kids today. I have special handshakes with both the neighbor kids! (And one of them includes doing a plie with the girl.) Like how many grown men are doing those things with kids? Not many! But if I view my reality based on a broken mirror, then I am only seeing a distorted view of reality. We all have different talents and gifts that God has given us. Do not look at a broken mirror or broken systems to find yourself or reality.
One of my prayers for my wife and kids is that they can be the people that God has created them to be. Each one of us has something that God has created us to be or do. My prayer for you would be the same. So I encourage you to not use broken mirrors to see reality. And it is a choice! So choose well. Oh yeah!
Thank you for joining today! Do me a favor and like, comment, or share this podcast! Because life is all about choices. And when you make better choices, you will live a better life. So choose well. Oh yeah!
