As an actor, Clinton Powell is known for playing roles where he crashes out. He crashed out as Pinky in Next Friday (2000), Friday After Next (2002), and even in Ray (2004). But his latest crash out wasn’t for an acting performance but in real life.
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Speaking at a round table discussion titled “Black Men Trust Black Women,” hosted by SisterSong Women of Color and The Conscious Lee, Powell reflected on his journey in relationships with Black women and how he’s grown as a man.
Joined by Kendrick Sampson, Luke James, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Laith Ashley, Euro Gotit, Joseph Irvin, and Daniel J. Watts, Powell shared that he just recently learning to love a woman the way she deserves.
“I’ve just learned how to love,” Powell admitted. “I’m 69, about to be 70, and I’ve just learned.”
Powell went on to blame his low love quotient on his parents and how their generation did not know how to properly love their significant others.
“Our parents didn’t know how to love. Their parents didn’t know how to love,” he pointed out agruging it was the result of “450 years of post-slavery PTSD.”
Powell also shared that his current partner showed him how to love and gave him the space to grow.
“When you hurt somebody, where you leave them is where they stay,” said Powell.
The discussion shifted dramatically when several roundtable participants challenged Powell’s comments. They demanded accountability from him and other Black men for past harm, articulating the exhaustion Black women feel with this recurring rationale.
“Yes, we can talk about, you know, what our families did to us….”Irvin argued. “But eventually, and I know white people try and say this, and I really don’t like that, but eventually, it comes to a point where you have to decide how do I want to live my life? You can only say that for so long. Black women are tired…”
Irvin also said that Powell and others like him should “Stop waiting for a woman to tell you what you need to do.”
Of course, Powell took offense to push back and went into full Chauncey from Meanace II Society.
“You don’t know what the f**k you’re talking about,” Powell shot back at Irvin. “Ni**a, I’m living it. I’m living it right now. You can’t fix no sh*t that you don’t even know what’s happening.”
Powell’s commentary represents a segment of Black men who aren’t committed to giving Black women their best. After years of doing what they want to do, they reach a certain age, and now they are more than willing to give Black women what’s left. They also fail to see that the emotional labor that Black women carry in these realtionships cause trauma that they are unaware of or even more sadly ignore.
In the system of patriarchy, Black women are expected to “hang in there” until Black men get it together.
Nikki Giovanni famously explained this reality to James Baldwin. In a 1971 televised conversation for the PBS series SOUL!, Giovanni and Baldwin spoke about how some Black men interact with families against the backdrop of encountering racism in society.
“You come home, and I get the least of you. Because I love you, I get the least of you… The bare minimum.”
As expected, Black Twitter chimed in with commentary about Powell’s viral clip.
One user said that Black men should not want to be like Powell when they turn 70 years old.
“More men should try their damndest not to be Clifton Powell. 70 years old talking about how he is just learning how to love, and his woman has been patient,” she wrote. “There’s so much more to life than to be stuck in a cycle with a nigga that has every excuse in the book to be horrible to you.”
Another user claimed that men like Powell only cause destruction.
“Men like Clifton Powell never knew how to love, and still don’t at his big arse age,” the post read. “Black women, stay away from those types–they will destroy you mentally, physically, and spiritually.”
One user added that Powell was being set up by the panel.
“This is a prime example of just worrying about taking care of your household and raising your kids the right way,” the user argued. “You’ll have some random person try to vilify you, and don’t even know you. Lol them folks tried to set up Clifton Powell, smh.”
Another user said that Powell’s roles in TV and film were signs about who he really is.
“Lmfaooooooo now let’s be real, Clifton Powell played those roles too damn good to be a decent person. this is not a surprise,” the user explained.
Another user noted that Powell was too old to have this many excuses for not being his best self.
“There’s a Black woman somewhere who has had to deal with a Clifton Powell for over 30 years of marriage,” the user wrote. “A grown ass man talking about “I didn’t know.” That’s embarrassing, man.”
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