By now you’ve probably heard about Chris Brown’s latest emotional outburst at the BET Awards.
No, he didn’t beat anybody up this time but he did cry a lot and put on a really good show for the cameras and the audience. I don’t believe for a second that his tears were genuine or that this bad boy has gone good or that MJ’s song Man in the Mirror touched him so deeply at that exact moment that he couldn’t do anything other than cry. I will admit that an epiphany can occur at the most inauspicious time hell, I’ve had one break through moment while shopping for toilet paper at the grocery store!
Unfortunately I don’t believe that the 2010 BET Awards was one of those times for Mr.Chris Brown. Dude, knew that a lot of people would be watching and he wants his career back and he’s willing to do anything even cry to get it back..do I begrudge him that? No. He wants redemption and he should try everything he possible can to achieve it but we, the public, shouldn’t forget all the crying Rihanna probably did after Chris Brown smashed her face in and welcome Chris Brown back into our open arms. Forgive him if you can but in my book they are some mistakes you should pay a lifetime for and beating up your partner is one of them. I know I can’t forgive him but then again I’ve never claimed to be a forgive and forget kinda gal.
But Chris Brown does deserve an award for one of the best performances of the evening tears included.
Did any of you happen to watch the Martin Bashir interview with Michael Jackson this weekend on MSNBC?
I didn’t see the interview when it first aired some years ago and I still didn’t get to watch the entire interview but the parts I watched were excruciating because Michael Jackson clearly needed therapy and over the years it seems he was allowed to get worst and worst.
Of all the signs Jackson displayed, that seem to indicate he needed some type of therapy, the one that leaped out at me was the answer he gave to Bashir about his plastic surgery. Jackson seemed to believe that he could actually convince Bashir and the world that he only had two operations and that he was born with pale skin and a dimpled chin! He even tried to convince Bashir that the changes occurred because of puberty and him ‘changing’. Whoa!
It was also hard to watch Jackson become visibly upset when it looks like his fans had turned against him after the Berlin baby dangling incident. And how abruptly his body language changes when Bashir starts to talk about the treatment he received from his father while growing up and why it’s understandable he would want to change his appearance because of all the teasing he received. And most adults that were tormented as children can definitely sympathize with Jackson here but it’s evident that even after all this time, some thirty to forty years later, Jackson had yet to come to terms with the treatment he received at the hands of his father Joe Jackson.
I don’t know if Jackson had ever been to or sought therapy or mental health treatment because the topic of therapy is still a big taboo in the black community however his behavior went beyond eccentric and his family and friends should have convinced him to seek help.
Many of those around him will now have to come to terms with the fact that Michael Jackson may have been crying out for help all this time and none them were able to or allowed themselves to hear his calls.
I think the public wants Rihanna to speak out so badly against Chris Brown that they keep clutching at straws hoping that she has I’m not going to lie I hope she does soon as well.
He must have in trying to suggest we should cut Chris Brown some slack after he beat up Rihanna but he’s not the first black star to suggest that we ease up on Brown.
First it was Terrence Howard and his insane comment that beating up women is “ just life” and “that everybody’s got to get out of their way.” Now it’s Kanye West and his ‘ give Chris a break‘ .
What the hell is wrong with them?
How can these black men ask the public to forgive or even sympathize with this idiot?
Seriously, would Kanye have suggested we give Brown a break had that been his mother, sister or daughter’s face plastered across TMZ? All the men I know, black or white would be out looking for Chris Brown if that had been one of their relatives. And instead of talking bs they would be looking to give Brown a taste of his own medicine and Brown would be in hiding right now instead ofriding around on a jet ski in Miami!
How can they look ather bruised and battered faceand say that Chris Brown is a cool guy? I know a lot of cool, hot headed guys and not one of them would raise their hand to hit a woman and any guy who does is aPUNK!!!
Everyone knows that this was a punk move yet neither of these black stars is calling it that instead these two are rushing to his defence and they want us, the public, to see it as youthful indiscretion or a private matter.
Look Chris Brown didn’t just beat up one of his friends or a photographer outside a bar after a night of drinking or he didn’t get caught smoking weed or doing coke at a party. HE BEAT UP A WOMAN! HIS GIRLFRIEND! HE BEAT HER UP!!! HE TOOK HIS FISTS AND POUNDED HER FACE IN! I don’t care what she said or what she did no woman deserves this and if you’re man enough to put your hands on a woman, you’re man enough to take the verbal blows and insults that society dishes out.
With murder by a former or current partner being the leading cause of death for black women ages 15-34 and black women experiencing domestic abuse at a rate 35 percent higher than that of white women they might be able to ignore these facts but I can’t and unfortunately for West and Howard many of us can’t or wouldn’t either.
Hopefully her wavering demonstrates, for the world to see, how tough it is for a woman in domestic abuse situations. And that we really view those women who do testify against those that have battered them as brave and heroic. Because in most cases they aren’t doing it for themselves they’re doing it for their families, their sons and daughters.
I hope the world sees what strength and will it takes for a partner to pursue charges against a ‘loved one’ even if that loved one has physically hurt or brutally assaulted (emotonally, physically and sexually) them for years.
Because if Rihanna a single women with almost everything in the world who has access to all of life’s greatest pleasures and luxuries is having her doubts imagine how difficult it is for women who with less- a lot less to pursue charges or obtain an order of protection? The Rihanna case also shows why the US’s conviction rates for domestic violence is only 37%!!
And according to some Caribbean scholars if her battering had happened in the Caribbean (Rihanna is Barbadian) her domestic violence case, if brought to the police would probably, simply disappear!
I don’t know if many consider Rihanna a role model or more importantly if she considers herself to be one but I do hope that if she chooses NOT TO pursue charges against him other women DO NOT follow her example.
She may be able to overlook his shortcomings but I doubt the general public will be as forgiving.
If Rihanna was indeed a victim of domestic violence she is only one of the estimated 1.3 million women and 835 000 men who are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States.
I have been and continue to be involved with agencies that seek to protect women and men from domestic violence-I urge you to get involved to help prevent domestic violence you could save a life or lives!
Domestic violence is a global problem: At least one woman in every three (think about three women you know and then read this again) has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family.
Approximately four million American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner during a 12-month period.
Black females experienced intimate partner violence at a rate 35% higher than that of white females, and about 22 times the rate of women of other races. Black males experienced intimate partner violence at a rate about 62% higher than that of white males and about 22 times the rate of men of other races.
African-American women experience significantly more domestic violence than White women in the age group of 20-24.
The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking, and homicide by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year.
Lost productivity and earnings due to intimate partner violence accounts for almost $1.8 billion each year.
Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger.
1, 232 women and 440 men approximately, ARE KILLED, KILLED each year by an intimate partner.
