September 11, 2014
NFL player, Raymell Mourice “Ray” Rice, was recently suspended from the sport for hitting his fiance’ so hard that it knocked her unconscious. The event was caught by a video surveillance camera in an elevator. The recording went viral, but it was not the first time Ray hit his girlfriend. This was just the first time it was caught on tape.
Previously, people made excuses for him, calling it a one-time, “unfortunate” event. At the time, Rice’s NFL team, The Baltimore Ravens, also expressed such sentiments. So did his victim. Everyone wanted to just get over it and “move on,” but of course it was not an isolated incident. Abuse never is.
People who have never faced domestic violence cannot often imagine why the battered victim stays, but in today’s Link of the Day, a woman describes her own journey with a violent and abusive spouse, why it is so easy to blame the victim, and why it is so hard for women to extricate themselves from these situations.
“ ‘It was a weird side effect of the cold medicine [I was on],’ he told me once. ‘If you hadn’t pushed me…’ he said another time. ‘Abusive husband?!’ he’d laugh.”
Knowledge is power. Empathy and compassion are vital. Please read this link and share with everyone you know.
posted by Corbin Lambeth
