The Ray Rice video is the 2nd most talked about fight in an elevator to be released recently. The video shows him striking his fiance to the floor and dragging her out of the elevator. This story shocked everyone because it is not everyday that such a private and terrible event is shown to the public. Rice and the NFL were both subject to public ridicule. Roger Goddell, the NFL commissioner, was railed against for his softness on the domestic violence issue when three other players were in the news for the same thing.
Rice and the three other players were all black men which renewed the image of the violent black man. Here we see professional athletes losing control and beating their women and children. We see black men behaving like brutes. Black people everywhere had their fingers crossed hoping that these events would not “set us back 50 years” by regenerating
negative black male stereotypes.
Black men and domestic violence has always been an issue but there was a time when we could blame it on black male emasculation. The theory was that black men lacked any control over their lives because of the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, but when they came home they could reassert their dominance and masculinity with a firm hand. This, however, does not apply to Rice or any other celebrity who has been caught in a domestic violence scandal (i.e. Chris Brown). So, what is the problem?
The problem is people use violence as a way to solve their problems. What Ray Rice and Chris Brown have in common is that they seemed to think violence is an acceptable means by which to get what they want. Black men using violence added to our nation’s history of racial stereotyping creates a perfect storm of negativity for black men everywhere. It is far too easy to make a black man the poster child for violence (consider Willie Horton and the 1988 Presidential election campaign), and it is too easy to forget that violence, domestic or otherwise, is not a black and white issue.
Nonetheless, every time something like this happens, people try to make it about “the violent black man” and black men have to defend themselves (no pun intended). Wendell Pierce, best known for his role on HBO’s The Wire, had this to say:
References
Bell, J. (2014). Video surfaces of Ray Rice’s domestic violence incident. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/ravens/2014/09/08/ray-rice-tmz-video-roger-goodell/15272689/
Rovell, D. & Keneally, M. (2014). NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Admits He ‘Got It Wrong’ Regarding Ray Rice Domestic Violence Incident. abc NEWS. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-addresses-domestic-violence-issue/story?id=25
FROM BOYZ 2 MEN, INC. 