Jussie Smollett's race card is about to be denied

Smollett also claimed to be a victim of white racism and to have the initial support of black leaders. But in a new era when Donald Trump is in the oval office, Bill Cosby is in jail and R & B frontman R. Kelly in court, Smollett may soon learn that the rules have changed for black celebrities struggling with serious legal problems.

He may discover that his race card has expired.

There was a time when the black community gave unconditional support to black public figures who invoked racism, but the case of Smollett already shows how this script is being rewritten.

Tanya Hernandez, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law in New York, is increasingly aware that blacks are increasingly aware of the difference between "authentic blackness" and "strategic blackness".

Hernandez says the black community and its allies can not continue "to bring brothers who act in a way that challenges the existence of real violence and bias" ".

"We are literally being killed," she says, "and there is no place to carry pests."

Doubling the darkness

There is a joke in the black community that we will forgive everything, provided that a black public figure in conflict follows a used scenario. I saw it in action. I felt his tug.

Barry, however, had a plan B – he was playing this race card.

I have seen this story repeat itself over and over again. I receive the impulse. Barry, for example, was more than his faults. He risked his life for racial progress. Few people can say that. Some of us, the blacks, have thought that we, not the whites, decide who our leaders are.

Yet this attitude can lead to surreal situations when black personalities, who rarely seemed to be allies, suddenly discover that their inner life is important when their career falters or when they face legal trouble.

Do you remember Michael Jackson?

The relationship between the young star of the pop star and her darkness was so ambiguous that it could be seen literally on her face. But he too doubled his darkness when times became difficult.

Even Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accentuated his racial victimization after being charged with sexual harassment. Thomas had spent much of his life teaching blacks not to see themselves as victims of racism. But when his appointment to the High Court failed, he declared that he was the victim of a "high-tech lynching", a rhetorical gesture that put his detractors on the defensive.

Of course, saying that this behavior is reserved for blacks would be a mistake. And in many cases, blacks and blacks are right when they claim racism. We have seen a lot of videos to support in recent years.

But all kinds of groups use their version of the race card.

"When the walls close on you, you'll use all the tools you can, black people are no different," said Wes Jackson, founder and executive director of the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival.

"Knowing that the boot of white supremacy and the invisible hand are still on your neck, some people claim it when they need a pass – hit the hammer."

There is another reason why the race card never seems to expire. The black community has a tradition of not distributing our dirty laundry. We are not supposed to criticize our public figures. Like the athletes of the professional teams, we are supposed to keep our mess in house.

I remember what happened when I crossed this line. After writing a story criticizing a black leader, I received an email from a famous black writer who had made friends with me. It read: "It's a houseboy article you wrote, I bet your editors are happy."

We have never spoken again.

When you lose Charles Barkley, you lost black America

Yet we live in a time when we are so disturbed by so much racism that our tolerance for forgery is weakening.

This is a challenge that Smollett is facing.

This can help that he has never tried to stand out from his black identity. Although he is biracial, he has spoken proudly of his heritage and is known to have spoken about racial, gay and lesbian issues.

But that does not help much for the moment. It is striking to see how so many black figures begin to question him.

Sharpton said that Smollett should face "maximum responsibility" when he discovered that he was lying about the alleged attack.

Black filmmaker Tyler Perry said he was "lost for words" after hearing about Smollett's arrest and for whom "fanning fears and arousing racial tension is a bad thing".

The wild riff on Smollett of Charles Barkley's NBA Insider host has become viral. ("If you break the law, do not write a check, get money, man.")

This desire to take black numbers is greater than Smollett. You can see it in the changing destiny of two other black celebrities: Cosby and R. Kelly.

Hernandez, a law professor at Fordham, explains that this change of direction began years ago with Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill, the woman who accused her of sexual harassment – a charge refuted by Thomas. Black leaders criticized the black women who supported Hill. Then the black community saw Thomas "stabbing us in the back" by aligning himself with conservative anti-black Supreme Court judges, Hernandez said.

"Cosby and R. Kelly do not take black love for granted, because we learned a hard lesson with CT," Hernandez said.

There is another reason why blacks seem more inclined to openly criticize those who play the race card: a change in the media landscape.

Jenn M. Jackson, a black queer feminist and activist, says that there has always been a lively debate in the black community about our leaders.

What's different now is that many more voices can be heard, she says.

"What we're seeing now is that we have platforms to allow this criticism to surface, and we now have more visibility," she says. "We have more people who have podcasts, we have Black Twitter, so now, when they make a criticism, people listen."

People like Smollett can not just wear Afrocentric clothing and invoke vague racial conspiracies to get the black community behind them.

More and more blacks see this truth:

When we unconditionally protect every black character, we sometimes end up doing something much more damaging – not protecting the members of our community who need it most.

"We are not going to pamper, hide, we will no longer ignore – that's what we see with the allegations against R. Kelly."

Smollett's way to redemption?

If the O.J. approach does not work as well, where does that leave Smollett?

There is an even more marginalized group than blacks or the LBGQT community.

Gardere says that if there is evidence that Smollett has organized a hoax, he will not be angry or disappointed. As a psychologist, he was concerned that Smollett was doing something so self-destructive and weird.

"This might be about serious emotional trauma and other issues that have never really been addressed," said Gardere.

The story of Smollett has varied from discussions about race, sexual orientation and politics. But if it's true that he perpetuated a hoax, Smollett might be able to rally the black community and others behind him by talking about another subject, Gardere said.

Stay tuned. The story of Smollett could present further twists in the coming months. But we can rest assured of one thing: the next time a black celebrity will try to get out of a traffic jam by playing the races card, the black community will not react simply with unconditional support .

Instead, they can send him a new message:

Your race card has been refused.