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“Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can
transcend political or social boundaries.” — Jimmy Carter
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Common Sense
The Progress
Editorial
March 31,2022
From the Staff
The slap seen round the world
But, the show just went on
Actor Will Smith on Sunday evening just
moments before being awarded the Oscar for
best actor for his role in the movie “King
Richard” stormed the stage at the 94th Acad
emy Awards and slapped comedian Chris
Rock in the face.
And what happened next? Not a thing.
The show just went on.
The confrontation occurred when Rock,
57, who was presenting the Oscar for best
documentary, made a joke about Smith’s
wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, starring in a sequel
to the 1997 film “G.I. Jane.” The movie fea
tured its star, Demi Moore, with a shaved
head as she depicted a character who was the
first woman to enter Navy SEAL training.
Rock seemingly made the joke because Pin
kett Smith’s head is shaved. She has been
open about having alopecia, an autoimmune
disorder which results in hair loss.
While Smith was seen laughing at the joke
initially, when he noticed his wife was not
amused he stormed the stage, slapped Rock
in the face, turned around and walked casu
ally back to his seat. The audience at first
thought it was a scripted bit, but once Smith
yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f-
— mouth” twice to Rock, they got the hint
it was not.
The exchange shocked the Oscars audi
ence and those watching at home - albeit very
few people were actually watching it appar
ently, since it was the second-least viewed
Oscars in history. Last year’s was the least
viewed ever.
Yet nothing happened. Smith was not re
moved from the building after the assault. He
wasn’t dragged away in handcuffs or even
taken backstage. He just walked casually
back to his seat and sat down to enjoy the rest
of his evening. That evening got better for
him when 20 minutes later he was named
best actor and got a standing ovation.
A standing ovation?
As Hollywood A-listers applauded him
for the win, Smith took the stage again, this
time in a tearful acceptance speech, saying
“Love will make you do crazy things.” He
apologized to his fellow actors and said he
hoped the Academy would invite him back
but he did not apologize to Rock, the man he
had just assaulted in front of the world.
According to reports his publicist may
have helped him come up with the short no
tice apology.
Talk about privilege. Apparently the rules
we all are asked to live by don’t apply to
multi-millionaire actors who can’t take a
joke. Where was security? How have we got
ten to a place where we sit and watch a movie
star hit someone on global television then,
moments later, get a standing ovation while
talking about love.
Let’s be clear, the second the assault hap
pened, Will Smith should have been imme
diately removed from the theatre.
You don’t let someone assault another
human, go back to his seat, and then give him
an award so he can preach about being a ves
sel of love.
That’s a level of power we, thankfully,
rarely see. Imagine if this had been anyone
else, man or woman. What if one of us
slugged someone in a bar would we be al
lowed to finish our meal?
What a sad commentary when you slap
someone on live TV, win an Oscar, get a
standing ovation and then accept that Oscar
talking about “love.” There was so much
wrong about that moment. The way casual
violence was normalized Sunday night by a
collective national audience will have conse
quences that we can’t even fathom in the mo
ment.
Smith did ultimately offer Rock an apol
ogy - likely after his publicist gave him a stiff
talking to about the gravity of the situation
on Monday morning. He said: “Violence in
all of its forms is poisonous and destructive.
My behavior at (Sunday) night’s Academy
Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.
Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but
a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too
much for me to bear and I reacted emotion
ally.”
For its part, The Academy of Motion Pic
tures did condemn Smith’s actions, saying:
“We have officially started a formal review
around the incident and will explore further
action and consequences in accordance with
our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and Cali
fornia law.” According to their standards of
conduct, the Academy is “categorically op
posed to any form of abuse.”
Let’s hope the Academy strips Smith of
his Oscar. Since Rock refused to press
charges, Smith should face some repercus
sions for his heinous actions.
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Senior Moments
Do I look stupid to you?
By Mary Migliaro
I’m mad as hell and I’m not
going to take it anymore! Bad
people seem to think we seniors
are gullible and this is why we
have become targets for scam
mers and thieves. In fact, just the
other day I was approached by a
man in the grocery store who
gave me some song and dance
story about why he needs money
from me to feed his five kids, get
out of a homeless shelter, etc. I
really wanted to say, “Do I look
stupid to you?”
I shut him down right away
by letting him know that I’m a
widow on a fixed income and
that I had no cash. He walked
away and promptly went over to
another woman near me. He
soon left and I asked that lady if
she knew the man and she said
she did not but that he gave her
the same song and dance. I went
right to a store employee and re
ported the incident.
I’m sure they didn’t catch
him as he was moving pretty
fast. That’s what grifters do.
Recently, I had coffee with a
friend in Jasper who was telling
me about the significant increase
in the number of seniors falling
for scams last year. Senior scams
in Pickens County resulted in
them losing almost $500,000! I
was shocked to say the least. In
some cases, those losses might
have been someone’s life sav
ings.
I asked about the type of
scams seniors were falling for
and some were pretty common
and the kind we have been
warned about. Things like your
grandson has been arrested and
you need to part with $1,000
cash if you want to get him out
of jail. Wouldn’t you think it a
red flag that your grandson
didn’t call you personally, or bet
ter yet, his parents?
Another person was told that
they had been hacked and to re
store their Internet, they needed
to drop off $500 in gift cards.
Seriously?
We’ve all been told ad nau-
seum that, “If it sounds too good
to be true, it probably is.” Then
where are our internal alarm
bells when these things happen?
Well, I say we get “mad as
hell” and stop being taken for a
ride! When we are approached
or called about something that
seems like an emergency, we
don’t have to react. Assess the
situation. Call a friend about it.
Call the police. Do something,
but don’t give up any of your
hard-earned money or your pre
cious retirement income.
Remember, the grifters don’t
care a whit about you. They just
want your money.
From now on, our mantra
needs to be, “I’m mad as hell
and I’m not going to take it any
more!”
[Mary Migliaro is a frequent
contributor to the Progress as
both a columnist and with a reg
ular parenting/family advice col
umn. She may be reached at
marymigliaro@aol.com.]
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Spot an
error?
Let our
editor hear about it.
dpool@pickensprogress .com
706-253-2457
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia.
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as Mail Matter of Second Class.
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WEATHER
By William Dilbeck
HI
LOW
RAIN
March
22
70
50
1.18
March
23
75
42
.09
March
24
60
41
.00
March
25
52
38
.00
March
26
59
35
.00
March
27
55
39
.00
March
28
58
39
.00
#lbe H>d)ciol
Other Voices
What happened in prison
during the Covid-19 pandemic
From a Ga. prison inmate
All the prison guards quit.
The wardens knew that they
could not contain a riot if the
staff started one by using dra
conian force.
The prisoners knew that all
a warden had to do was pick
up a phone and the prison
could be flooded with Cor
rectional Tactical Squads,
State Troopers or National
Guard units if it came to that.
We can/did/do all just get
along.
From the highway beyond
the fence the citizenry can
look this way and see nothing
out of place. Everything
looks good, it must be okay.
Most of the prisoners were
recovering from round one of
Covid-19 while the news was
calling it "potentially con
cerning." I went to sick-call
with a terrible cough (but be
tween fever spikes) and was
told I did not have the flu,
then sold a blister pack of
sinus pills and a small bottle
of cough syrup that I drank
on the way to my bunk.
I got up four days later to
drink a broth of Ramen
chicken soup flavoring, sore
from lying there and eating
nothing but Halls cough
drops. My cellmate got up
two days later. The cells
nearby were next. On aver
age the affected were down
for ten days from first felt to
feeling better.
We cared for each other as
best we could. The ones who
could make store, bought
extra packs of Halls, sinus
pills and aspirin to share with
whoever was sick in the
dorm that week. That rotated
as well as any hippie com
mune ever shared a loaf of
bread. By the time our turn as
a community came to be vac
cinated, we had herd immu
nity.
I am amazed we didn't lose
a larger percentage of our
population; there are many
elderly and lung diseased
prisoners. T.B., COPD,
Asthma and Emphysema are
statistically high in prisons
filled with poor and hard liv
ing types.
One shift of guards had 43
people staffing the buildings
and work details. The next
shift only 5 showed up. After
24-36 hours of being re
quired to remain on post until
relieved, they too decided to
not be employees anymore.
For a few weeks the facade
of a full staff was presented
by focusing on keeping a full
dayshift. It looked good. At
night dayshift went home
passing the key-rings down
the ladder of responsibility
until there were months of a
few guards watching 1000+
prisoners.
Prisoners died in cells sim
ply because of inability to get
medical attention during the
worst of Covid. They died
from asthma attacks with un
refilled inhalers in their
hands, from heart attacks and
unaddressed strokes. Inmate
on inmate violence is at the
bottom of the cause of death
list. If negligence was an in
dictment for murder there
would be cause for arrests
found here.
Murder occurred in here.
Nowhere near the level one
would have expected based
on TV's portrayals of prison
life, but it is a bad neighbor
hood, no denying that.
We won argument with the
nightshift guard to not lock
the doors to the cells, the
housing units or the interior
gates. We argued these issues
with logic. Assuring the
guard that no one would es
cape and we needed the abil
ity to fetch the shift
supervisor when or if a pris
oner needed medical atten
tion.
It's worked fine for about
two years now. None of the
prisoners left illegally.
The dayshift has disap
peared now, only the wardens
and a handful of staff remain.
The warden is handling the
mail as best s/he can by mak
ing sure the court's mail is de
livered daily. The regular
mail is delivered bi-monthly.
Outgoing mail leaves daily,
looks good if anyone is
watching.
The prison industry has
continued operations, as have
the education departments
and prison support details of
maintenance, sanitation,
painting, window washing
and sidewalk sweeping. No
one really wants to just lay on
a bunk all day everyday,
human beings want to be out
and about doing something.
We have begun Spring clean
ing (without the interference
of officers and headcounts)
because we live here.
Someone will be along
soon to take back their prison
and fix all this.
[Editor s Note: This was
sent by a longtime Ga. prison
inmate who fears that using
his name might result in extra
attention, something he says
no prisoner every wants.]
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