(ThyBlackMan.com) The recent release of a video showing former Baltimore Ravens running-back Ray Rice pummeling his then girlfriend inside of an Atlantic City elevator has sent shock waves through not only the sports community, but through the round of non-sports related talk shows as well. What can be seen is completely and totally despicable and without excuse. For a grown man, no matter how provoked he may be, to smooth lay out his woman to the point that her unconscious body has to be drug out of an elevator is a snap shot of total and complete depravation.
But what happened to Ray Rice after the recent “sudden” release of this video is the equivalent of a modern day lynching. Why? Just stick with me for a few moments.
On February 15th, 2014 Ray Rice and his then girlfriend Janay Palmer were both charged with simple assault at an Atlantic City casino. The police report states that both parties “struck each other with their hands.”
On May 23rd Rice and Palmer address the media and now the newly married Janay Rice says she deeply regretted the role she played the night of the incident.
On June 16 NFL commissioner Roger Goodell met with both Rice and his wife to assess the severity of discipline to enforce.
On July 27th the NFL announces a two-game suspension for Rice, beginning on August 30. The Ravens football team calls the punishment “significant” but “fair” before, once again, defending the running back.
On August 28th, after receiving an overwhelming amount of criticism, the NFL announces a more severe punishment for domestic violence incidents committed by players. Any player accused of domestic violence, on first offense, now receives an automatic 6-game suspension. A second domestic violence incident is punishable by a lifetime ban from the league.
On September 8th, actual video footage from inside the elevator is released. Ray Rice is then released by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL. Because of the punishment the Ravens are able to cut him without pay.
Ray Rice was not fired because of what happened behind closed doors. No, Rice was fired because the public SAW the awful and terrible reality of domestic abuse. The facts surrounding this story never changed. The public knew that he and his girlfriend got into a fight, the public knew that she was unconscious when she got drug from the elevator, the public knew that Rice was the one who knocked her out because he admitted to it.
So then the question is this; why wasn’t Ray Rice fired when the story first came out? Did the fact that we now saw the ugliness on camera somehow change the argument? Is domestic violence worse when it’s caught on video?
Imagery has always played a very strong part in the human psyche. Hearing about something raises the awareness level, but seeing it seems to heighten our emotions. Why is that? Scientists have mapped out the brain and how it works. They have come up with some interesting conclusions when it comes down to sight, and that is the fact that over 50% of the human brain is engaged when we see things.
This being said, the power of what we see should not be underestimated, especially in the black community. It is no wonder that a community that is underserved in just about every area across the board, whether it is education, family, healthcare, finances, and public safety, is consistently fed visual images that amount to nothing more than spiritual and psychological cellulose. American Black themed entertainment, for the most part, is like sugar water. There is close to zero nutritional value to be found in the vast majority of urban entertainment outlets. Conversely we only hear about the occasional good things, but we don’t often see it.
We see death, mayhem and bodies being drug, unconsciously, from an elevator.
Domestic violence is very real problem in the black community. The fact that big mama and big daddy were always fighting, especially after one or both of them was drunk, has insidiously weaved its way into the cultural fabric of a lot of black folks. The excuse of “my papaw did it, his daddy did it, I’m gonna do it,” when it comes down to beating one another has almost become a badge of honor, a not-so-kind family crest. Many have not only turned their heads to it, but have surreptitiously endorsed it.
It is abundantly clear that the relationship dynamics of Ray Rice and his wife is one of violence. The fact that they were both charged with aggravated assault is evidence of that. Plus, no man in the world who is not an abuser would strike a woman that hard and then not completely panic. After he knocked her out he seemed to move with the same sense of urgency of someone going to the execution chamber. And we can’t rely on his wife for clarity of thought. She’s doing the best that she can, but please remember that she’s in the midst of an abusive relationship. She married him AFTER she got knocked out in the elevator. Her thought process is damaged, to say the least.
Firing Rice should’ve happened months ago. But to have a knee-jerk reaction as a result of a video (one that we knew the outcome of several months ago) is wrong. We have to question the motive of a machine that would do something like that, and at the same time not display other images that counteract this kind of psychosis within the same community.
Staff Writer; Steven Robinson
May also visit this talented writer over at; http://noroomtowiggle.wordpress.com/.