Rickey Smiley tackled the issue of society emasculating Black boys while penalizing Black boys for wearing their hair in dreadlocks.
In a meme posted on his Instagram page, the comedian wrote:
Black boy: I want to wear locks to school
Society: Suspended!!! No graduation THUG!!!
Black boy: How about a dress?
The meme concludes with the hashtag “#SocialEngineering.”
Smiley was alluding to the recent controversy surrounding Deandre Arnold, the 16-year-old boy who was banned from attending his prom until he cut off his dreadlocks.
The popular host of the syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show didn’t caption his meme, but some of his followers called him out on wearing a dress during his comedy skits.
One IG follower wrote: “But Rickey didn’t you wear a dress on multiple occasions?? i.e sister Bernice?? So I’m kinda lost.”
Another wrote: “Black people are judging a black boy wearing a dress and whites are judging both. It’s bad all the way around.”
And a third wrote: “Every generation has its attack on minority masculinity. Birth of a nation. Civil rights, the project mentality of the 70s, the drugs in the 80s, gangs in the 90s. We didn’t want our men violent. More drugs and the glamorization of self destruction of the 2000s now this.”
