With the release of this new footage of Ray Rice knocking out his then finance and dragging her out of the elevator, there have been several responses from the public! Overall people are outraged and livid!! People have varies feelings regarding the NFL organization and about why this young lady went ahead and married this man. Now we all can agree (at least I would hope so) that what he did was WRONG….point blank period! There is absolutely nothing to justify his behavior. However, I’m not here to talk about his actions or the consequence. I want to talk about accountability.
My partner CamQuotes posted a status that said,
“I hope a lot of you are holding all the men in your everyday life as you are doing Ray Rice…Some of y’all have had your a$$ beat by a man who’s not your father recently and some of you have watched a female get her a$$ beat and turned a blind eye…”
These words really stuck out to me. So often things that happen in our daily lives get ignored until a celebrity, athlete or someone who we don’t like does it. Then, we want to make a fuss over it. Maybe we have these people on some sort of pedestal or maybe we think that they just are not capable of doing wrong. How many people currently know someone that’s in a physically abusive situation? How many people have seen a woman getting hit or roughed up by a man? Now…have many people have actually tried to do something about? How many people have tried to step in and intervene…..or pull the woman aside to get her counseling….or at the very least call the police? How many woman have been hit by a man and then turned the other cheek as if nothing happened? How many people know about these things but yet sit back and do nothing?
We can’t just condemn Ray Rice for this behavior but not do the SAME for the men we actually know in real life who may behavior in the same manner. We have to hold every man (or woman) accountable. No one should put his or her hands on anyone! It seems to be a common cycle in our community that we want to pick and choose what we get mad over or speak on. For example, with this Ray Rice situation I’m seeing both men and women saying things such as…..”if that was my daughter he’d be dead and I’d be in jail”…..”If he was my man I’d kill him in his sleep”….however, boxer Floyd Mayweather has been involved in a few domestic situations with his child’s mother over the years and most people still think he is the greatest thing ever and have nothing bad to say about him. If we are going to hold Ray Rice accountable and hold EVERY man to that same degree period. A lot people have grown up watching his or her mother, grandmother, sister, or aunt get slapped by a man and think it’s normal or just apart of our culture. So then they become an adult and become a victim to this behavior. Ray Rice and so many others are apart of a bigger problem called domestic violence that needs to be put to an end! I also feel that if you see someone physically getting beaten and you do nothing then you are apart of the problem too. At the very least everyone is capable of dialing 911.
Ladies love doesn’t hurt, physically or emotionally….and guys in the words of CamQuotes “If you feel you have to beat her then just leave her forever”. Lastly, I want to leave you with a clip from my favorite TV show….