Lessons from Hollywood

I'm sure almost all of you have heard about the Chris Brown and Rihanna incident by now. There are already many rumors about what happened. Did he cheat on her? Did she give him an STD? I'm not writing this to point the finger at Brown and to condemn him as a terrible person, even though I've lost all respect for the man. While it is true that most of what you hear on tv and the internet is probably not true, we have to look at the facts.

The LAPD has confirmed that a fight, rather a one sided beating took place on a street in downtown LA. Apparently the pop star couple had a disagreement that quckly escalated out of control. Rihanna's injuries were serious. She had huge bruises on both sides of her face and a bloody nose. She claims that Brown hit her several times closed fisted. Brown has no reported injuries from the incident and has been released on $50,000 bond pending his court appearance on March 3rd.

But it is more important to take a look at ourselves and our communities. Brothers the numbers are not good. The number one killer of African-American women ages 15 to 34 is homicide at the hands of a current or former intimate partner. Black females experience intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. Black males experience intimate partner violence at a rate about 62% higher than that of white males and about 22 times the rate of men of other races.

What gives? Is our collective image of manhood so perverted that we have to dominate our women in order to feel good about ourselves? To be fair, the survey where I got this data said that women and men are equally likely to swing first. But come on, the average man is more than capable of handling himself without resorting to violence. If she is tripping then just walk away. Because the sad truth is that, morality aside, the fastest way to lose your freedom, career, and future is to get locked up over a domestic dispute. No matter what really happened, people will usually side with the female, and with good reason.

We should be able to handle ourselves responsibly. Obviously it is wrong to hit any female, but it saddens me to see the statistics on what is happening to OUR women. 22 times more likely to be victims than women of other races? It's time to take a stand. We must never raise our hands in anger to any woman. We must also not be complicit if we know of a situtation where someone is being abused. Its time to break the cycle and stand up for what is right, or the American justice system will fix the problem for us.