As disturbing as the picture was that was leaked of R&B singer Rihanna after allegedly being beaten by fellow R&B singer Chris Brown, sadly it has not been the thing that shocked me most about this incident.
I have been appalled by much of the reaction in the black community to this allegation of the romantically linked couple.
Actor Terrence Howard described the situation as “just life, man.” He continued, “Chris is a great guy, man. He’ll be all right. And Rihanna knows he loves her, you know? They’ll be alright.”
When asked if Saturday Night Live would consider having Chris Brown perform on the show again, cast member Kenan Thompson remarked, “We don’t care about scandal. We just care about what brings us ratings!”
“Preferably they can put aside their differences and get back to making hot music,” said rapper Flo Rida.
Even Kanye West, who has stated he views Rihanna like a little sister, came to Brown’s defense asking “(c)an’t we give Chris a break?”
Thompson subsequently supplemented his statement to clarify that he was not excusing domestic violence. Howard retracted his statement altogether, claiming he didn’t know about the accusation when he spoke (though it’s hard to figure out what he was talking about if not this scandal). But these knee-jerk reactions were telling. These are the comments expected after a media-fueled spat leaves a couple in a tiff; they aren’t the comments expected after an accusation of domestic violence leaves a woman in the hospital.
What’s notable is that these comments don’t reflect an unwillingness to judge Brown’s guilt prematurely. On the contrary, the comments seem to take for granted that the allegations are true, but still express a desire for the public — and Rihanna — to move past them. And this sentiment is not unique to celebrities that publicly weighed in on the situation.
Message boards are filled with reader comments expressing support for Brown and speculating on what Rihanna did to antagonize him to get to the point of hitting her.
Maybe she cheated. Maybe she hit him first. As one of my own friends explained it, “I bet she can get pretty ghetto.”
When I heard that, all at once I understood what was troubling me so deeply about the discussion that had been sparked by the allegations — to the extent that people were defending Brown, it was a racist defense. Implicitly, those defending Brown are saying they are comfortable forgiving him because they believe, based on stereotypes about black women, that she somehow brought this out of him. That black women have special powers to make men turn violent.
It’s a curious feature of crimes that disproportionately affect women — notably s*xual assault and domestic violence — that we wonder first whether the person who has been attacked somehow provoked the violence.
With Women’s History Month approaching, it’s a good time to remember that crimes against women are crimes against humanity. They are not a subset of violence that can be viewed through a different lens. They should shock our conscience in the exact same way as other reports of any other crime; they should be met universally with outrage, and that outrage cannot be tempered with speculation that perhaps the survivor deserved it.
It becomes even more disturbing when part of the justification for the violence is racial in nature. I have often theorized that negative stereotypes of black women are dangerous, but I never realized how literal I was being. The use of the stereotype that black women are angry to justify violence being perpetuated against black women is unforgivable. But it’s led to the idea that the personalities of black women are so objectionable that we cannot begrudge their abusers for turning to violence.
This mentality makes it less likely that these incidents will be reported. The legal system cannot work if it isn’t used, and attitudes like these contribute to a culture of violence that discourages black women from coming forward with charges of domestic violence.
Black women don’t have special powers.
Unfortunately, we do have a negative image that has saturated popular culture to the point that it is now being used to disentitle us from our physical safety. And that is truly frightening.
My heart and prayers go out to Rihanna. I hopes she makes a speedily recovery both mentally and physically.
Friday, February 27th 2009 at 2:41PM
Jen Fad
Young black men who listen to their peers and make comments based on thier own twisted perceptions of how a relationship is suppose to work will always disrespect and hate us for existing. The older ones dont help when they talk about us like they never had a mother. It's deplorable. Walk away, none of us should perpertrate violence. We feed the sterotypes and that's going backwards.
Saturday, February 28th 2009 at 5:23PM
Zulma Brooks
