Head Of State

When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face on March 27, 2022, at the Academy Awards, it caused worldwide outrage, commentary and debate. Was that a display of the much-touted "black on black crime" used in conservative circles to explain away the excessive incarceration rates of African-Americans?

Well, I don't know, but that's not the subject of this post anyway. I want to briefly look back at the 2003 film "Head of State," starring Chris Rock, the receiving party of Slapgate. In that film he plays the role of Mays Gilliam, an insignificant alderman from Washington, D.C. And he's slapped in that film in two ways: literally by his brother (played by Bernie Mack), and figuratively by an unnamed political party in America, although it's obviously a stand-in for the Democratic Party. The party's original presidential and vice-presidential candidates die in a plane crash and Mays Gilliam is unexpectedly chosen as the substitute presidential candidate for the 2004 general election.

Unbeknownst to Gilliam, he's selected as the candidate with the intention for him to lose the election. The party's leader, Sen. Bill Arnot, only wants to exploit him as a token black candidate who will lose but also win social justice points for the party. Here's what the good senator says while hatching the plan: "The smartest thing we can do is to be the first party to nominate a minority for president." Starring Chris Rock and directed by Chris Rock it comes as no surprise that this film is a comedy first and foremost, but it does have some intelligent commentary. For example, it attacks in a lighthearted way the completely fake electoral system where none of the candidates actually say what they really think but instead repeat safe centrist banalities over and over again. Gilliam plays along with this drab strategy at first, but gains popularity the moment he decides to speak from the heart. Here's one of my favorite speeches from a presidential candidate ever from a scene where Gilliam addresses a crowd:

How many of you, right now, work two jobs just to have enough money to be broke? If you work two jobs and at the end of the week you got just enough money to get your broke ass home, let me hear you say: That Ain't Right! How many of you have children that they call stupid? Don't be ashamed! It ain't your fault! I asked my niece the other time: what's four plus four? She said: 44! Well that ain't her fault. That's the school's fault. Now if your child's school has old ass books and brand new metal detectors, let me hear you say: That Ain't Right! It ain't right!! And now we've got these corporations stealing all the money. They ain't stealing their money, they're stealing our money! The pensions! You work for 35 years, you thought you was gonna leave your kids a will, now you're just gonna leave them a won't. You show up to get your pension, and they give you a pen! They give you a damn pen! Now what the hell am I supposed to do with a pen!? I should just stab you in the neck with this pen mister pension-taker! Taking everybody's pension and nobody going to jail... Meanwhile, you and I, we steal a big mac with cheese, next thing you know we on death-row. That ain't right!

In the end, despite all the efforts from his own party and the opposing candidate, Gilliam manages to win and in the process becomes America's first black president. This film sort of predicted the future, as only six years later Barack Obama became America's first real black president. Although... That's not exactly right because Obama is of mixed blood of course, his mother was white; that just shows how ridiculous these racial denominations are to begin with. Gilliam ponders how his success will reflect on an entire race, something I'm sure Obama has reflected on as well, but the film shines, as far as I'm concerned, when it makes these sharp political observations in an effortless and comedic fashion. Here's another example: "What kind of a drug policy," Gilliam asks, "makes crack cheaper than asthma medicine?" That's a brilliant reference to America's lack of any sort of universal healthcare and the racially motivated legal differentiation between cocaine and crack. Anyhow, I haven't even discussed the brilliantly funny role of Bernie Mack, the wonderful rap music and supporting roles yet, so you'll have to watch the movie to enjoy those ;-)

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