A moment of clarity came in that grainy elevator video.
We saw the brutality that thousands of women endure every day.
We saw the cynical nature of those in power at the National Football League.
We saw our own societal failings that have allowed domestic violence to persist.
Reckoning often happens upon reaching rock-bottom. We can only hope that the NFL’s own Watergate is a watershed for our attitudes toward domestic violence.
When now former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice knocked out his future wife in an Atlantic City elevator in February, he joined a not-so-exclusive club of pro athletes linked to domestic violence.
Rice was going to be like most other DV offenders in the NFL, of which there have been 85 since 2000 according to a USA Today database.
He was suspended two games, a penalty that ironically was harsher than the pretrial diversion program the criminal justice system sentenced him to.
Then the video surfaced.
As it spread over TV and the internet, it gave most of us our first uncensored view of the ugly reality of domestic violence.
We were disgusted.
From that moment, Rice’s problem became the NFL’s problem. The league went into full damage-control mode, announcing a new disciplinary system for domestic violence and suspending Rice indefinitely.
Then we learned the NFL was made aware of the tape long ago. Commissioner Roger Goodell showed he thinks we’re stupid … stupid enough to believe the league’s hollow explanations. Stupid enough to applaud the NFL’s reactionary scrambling when it should have been proactive. Stupid enough to believe an “independent” investigation overseen by Goodell’s BFFs will come to any meaningful conclusion.
We were disgusted.
Yet, while the Ray Rice story shines light on domestic violence, we see why it continues to fester in dark corners of our society. Some people continue to blame the victim, saying women shouldn’t provoke men. If Rice were to play today, thousands would cheer for him.
We should be disgusted.
For all the ugliness surrounding this story, we can only hope some good will arise. Domestic violence has never had the public awareness it does now.
During CBS’s telecast of Thursday’s game between the Ravens and Steelers, anchor James Brown delivered a powerful and poignant monologue.
Some excerpts:
“Wouldn’t it be productive if this collective outrage, as my colleagues have said, could be channeled to truly hear and address the long-suffering cries for help by so many women?” he said. …
“And it starts with how we view women. Our language is important. For instance, when a guy says, ‘You throw the ball like a girl,’ or, ‘You’re a little sissy,’ it reflects an attitude that devalues women and attitudes will eventually manifest in some fashion. …
“So this is yet another call to men to stand up and take responsibility for their thoughts, their words, their deeds, and as Deion (Sanders) says to give help or to get help, because our silence is deafening and deadly.”
Brown’s monologue, delivered to an audience of nearly 21 million viewers, was the closest thing to an intervention our society has had on domestic violence. It was honest, direct and designed to force introspection.
Domestic violence has been an open wound hidden under a bandage of ignorance and backwards attitudes.
We can only hope the Ray Rice saga is where the healing begins.
