As An “Island Woman…”
Just like most of everyone (at least everyone on Twitter last night), I watched the Grammys and was astounded at the news about Chris Brown and Rihanna. I believe I first heard it from Necole Bitchie or Concrete Loop, can’t recall which. In no time flat it was confirmed by the likes of People Magazine, TMZ, and E!.
In summary, following some kind of domestic altercation that was initially described as a “traffic accident,” 19 year old R&B star Chris Brown has turned himself in to the LAPD and was booked on suspicion of making criminal threats. He’s been released from jail, having posted $50,000 bail. Sources claim that Barbadian-born R&B singer Rihanna, who’s just 20 years old, suffered visible bruises after the confrontation. And the internet has gone buckwild with speculation. Some of the comments have made my stomach churn.
Take a gander at any of the popular gossip blogs right now, and read those comments if you want to feel your blood pressure rise. I’m not about to link to any of the posts that REALLY got my goat, but I need to get this off my chest. As a proud Trinidadian woman, a West Indian woman, a woman from the islands… I do NOT appreciate the stereotypes that are being thrown around by commenters seeking to condone or explain this act of violence. I’m seeing all kinds of nonsense. And I quote:
“He better watch himself, those island women are crazy.”
“Who didn’t tell chris that island women were nutso?”
“Caribbean women are crazy, she probably cut him.”
“That island b***h probably put some roots on him.”
“Chris Brown laying the SMACKDOWN on Carribean joints. [frank lucas voice]. My ni**a!”
Then there’s the other kinds of offensive comments, the ones that don’t just put the blame on Rihanna because she’s a “crazy island woman.” These other comments blame her simply because she’s a woman.
“She must have provoked him.â€
“I believe Rhianna probably started it first and it got Chris mad. Rhianna looks like she is a ish starter.”
And my least favorite of all: “Its so stupid how if a man hits a woman its his fault and we should feel sorry for the woman. You all know how it goes, these hoes get snappy, she probably annoyed him and hit him herself. lol at everyone feeling sorry for Rihanna.”
Hold. UP.
Where do these kinds of twisted interpretations and stereotypes even begin? When did we get to this point, where we instantly blame the victim?
It’s like people don’t know what to say about this sad situation, so they’re just talking out of ignorance and stereotypes and assumptions. It seems people are saying anything to try to explain why R&B music’s it couple wound up missing what should have been one of their most magical evenings together.
First of all, the only people that presently know exactly what happened between this young couple are Chris Brown, Rihanna, whoever may have been in the vehicle with them, and the law enforcement officials who are investigating this crime.
Second of all, domestic violence is never OK. It’s never to be explained away, dismissed, or most shamefully of all, celebrated. No matter how much you may love someone’s music or style or ability, to explain away Chris Brown’s alleged crime by saying “she probably started it” or “I heard she gave him herpes,” or whatever the excuse of the moment is, is woefully inappropriate and misguided. It reveals volumes about how women are valued in this society.
A man should never lay his hands on a woman. Point blank, period.
Even Chris Brown has acknowledged how domestic violence affected his own life, as a child. He’s gone on the record as saying “I don’t want to put a woman through the same thing that person put my mom through.” Whatever went down, I am sure he can’t help but recall the environment he grew up in and surely he must sincerely regret whatever his behavior was that led to this situation. Even he would probably be disgusted at the “explanations” his own fans are offering for this incident right now.
And third — in the heat of this moment, even as fans are seeking to defend and explain what happened to their favorite stars in the face of these powerful allegations, it’s important to remember how old they both are. Chris Brown is 19. Rihanna is 20. These kids need help, guidance, and the careful investigation of the law right now. Not rumors, innuendo, hearsay, and judgment. If you’re among those who have been stringing their song titles into weak jokes about domestic violence, or leaving vehement, profanity-laced comments either in favor or against Chris Brown or Rihanna in light of what happened, I implore you to stop. Think about what you’re saying, what message you’re giving, and why.
My thoughts and well wishes go out to the families of both Rihanna and Chris Brown right now. This can’t be an easy thing for either side. Time will tell what really happened here, and I hope justice is served fairly. This isn’t just another hot-button celebrity story. Domestic violence is a serious societal ill, and our collective attitude towards it should be examined and improved.
There are some tremendous domestic violence resources online. If you’ve been a victim, or know someone who has, I encourage you to visit the Safe Space Foundation, the National Domestic Violence Hotline (call 1-800-799-SAFE), Women Called Moses, and the YWCA, or the Family Violence Prevention Fund at endabuse.org.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this story, and if you’re new to Afrobella, I encourage you to check out my FAQ on commenting. I don’t allow cursing or personal attacks on my site, and I usually delete comments with that kind of language. But I do welcome and encourage intelligently stated opinions of any variety.
What do you have to say about this sad situation, bellas and fellas?
Category: Famous Faces, Issues
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Hey Bella,
I think people would have “filled in the blank” with the ethnicity in the situation involving black women. Women of African descent are not valued in this country regardless of nationality because of the stereotypes. It would have been, “you know Nigerian/Ghanian/Afro-Canadian/African American/Black/Jamaican, etc are too pushy,dominating,demanding” or what other BS they tell themselves to excuse a man when he hits a woman.
I understand why you take offense. And as a black (African-American) woman I take offense to all these people excusing domestic violence. I’m reminded of a line in the Color Purple Mister to Celie “you’re poor, you’re black, you’re a woman, you’re nothing at all”. This mindset has damaged our community seemingly beyond repair.
No matter what C. Brown says, apology or not, Rihanna needs to run fast and far away from him, and whoever his “peeps” are.
Black misogynists are having fun with this situation. No surprise. Haven’t people noticed that for the last few decades abusing black women (verbally, physically, stupid movies, etc.) was okay?
The cycle of devaluation of our womanhood continues – as entertainment. Statistically, guess who suffers the most from domestic violence out of all women?
Raven:
A lot of this allegations are coming from people that have worked with Rihanna in different venues and dealt with the fact that she has to know where Chris is every single second of the day, something that would be a stretch with average people and is completely unpractical given their occupations.
Fighting in general is wrong period. I think we’re doing women a disservice by assuming Rihanna is completely innocent in the matter and painting her to be the victim.
Again, I’m believing it was a two sided fight until evidence proves otherwise.
I also agree with the poster who said Bella might be too close to this one to be objective. The mindset that only men hit women is damaging. Abuse doesn’t discriminate based on color OR GENDER.
Get the facts people or leave it alone.
As an black woman who is North American (I’m tired of labels), who has lived all her life in multi-ethnic New York City, I am here to say that everyone has a bias or negative statement whether intended or not against another ethnicity. However, if you have come into contact with other nationalities/ethnic groups, you learn that everyone is one and the same.
I watch a lot of cable news channels from BBC, CIN and UniVision/Telemundo and Namaste America. I can tell you, that domestic violence/child abuse and sexual abuse against children (another pet peeve) are everywhere; based on the news stories I see (and I have to admit, global television news channels are much better, here in US you would never get as real as these channels do), what I have learned is many people big up their culture and country, and sya that certain things do not exist, but when I see these news channels I have concurred that they have same situations just as they do here in USA.
I agree, I have heard derogatory comments made about Carribean people, BUT I have also heard Carribean people make derogatory comments as well (last week, heard a woman say to another, “You’re getting fat and looking like a black american”…WTF???? I also hate when blacks here in the US say: These West Indians are sneaky, cheap etc. I once sat in my company’s cafeteria and heard the catering staff (all Carribean) place labels on one another….”Jamaicans are cheap, Bajans are liars, Haitians are thieves”….I couldn’t believe it. Here I was thinking that they had some unity, and they were tearing each other up and laughing about it. It was sad.
My take on this, people are ignorant. Make a note and move on. And as far as the internet is concerned, I agree with poster “ceecee” who said:
“I don’t read comments and gossip blogs for the ignorance and hatred they spew. My b.p is already too high from reading the economics section of NYT.”
Well said. Read NYT comments and you find some sense of dignity of the poster, read your local newspaper and you see the hate spewing forth like maggots on rotten meat.
With that said, Chris and Rhianna were too young to be so serious, and they both need to separate after this incident. Chris needs to see a therapist and receive anger management classes. It is a sad situation for both people who have the world ahead of them, but alas life goes on.
Oh yes and Bella, I applaud you for this discussion, I love this blog!
What ridiculousness is this? Why do we continue to coddle abusive behaviour? What role does one’s country of birth have to do with any of this? What does there age have to do with anything? I was in serious relationships at their age and was -never- hit. Would it be better if they were older? Stop looking for excuses. Age is not an apology. Age is also not a reason to be non-commital or screwing around. Maturity is not a number, and neither is decency. We really need to sort our heads around the attitudes that are being brought out by this unfortunate incident
Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!
It is extremely important to remember that what happened is not a joke. I applaud you for taking a responsible stand on the subject and not using it as fodder to get people to read your blog.
Peace
Thank you for this post! I agree with everything you said. The first I heard of this was this morning on the Tom Joyner Morning Show when J. Anthony Brown made another offensive comment about “island womenâ€. It makes me sick that someone with an audience as large as that would think it ok to make such a dangerous and cavalier remark about domestic violence.
I commend you for being able to sift through those boards with those terrible and ignorant comments. I can’t do it. Just the few that I’ve seen about seeing both sides of the story and how women can commit DV too are making my blood boil. Comments like those are about as valid as the argument for “reverse racism.†Tell me, if this story was about a black man being beaten by a white man or better yet a white police officer, would we be talking about seeing both sides or about how Black men can also attack white men? Of course not, because such comments would be irrelevant to the case at hand and would be obvious signs of racism. Why is it so easy for us to see that but not see sexism and misogyny?
There is no excuse for domestic violence whether it be by a man or a woman (though in the majority of cases it’s perpetrated by a man). This situation is sad. What makes it even sadder are the number of Black folks quick to throw out stereotypes about our own and the number of women who’ve been brainwashed into believing that such behavior is ok. Both reek of self-hatred.
What a shame.
This situation is tragic. However, I applaud Rihanna for taking a stand and making a report,a lot of women in our community are not able to do this. I hope that women; young and old, in similar situations will be brave enough to speak up and out when violence is perpetrated against them by men/women no matter their status. I am currently an intern at a community mental health agency that provides services to families affected by abuse (sexual, physical, emotional) victims and perpetrators. Children who witness domestic violence are often “invisible” victims and based on Chris’ own reporting he witnessed significant abuse as a child, with apparently no therapy (?). I see children who present with PTSD, depression, and who unfortunately may commit violent (physical or sexual) acts against others. Bella as a Barbadian an “island woman” myself I am not sure how to respond to the comments you highlighted as I think such comments only serve to revictimize and detract from the real issue. One of the things I make a point to do when people begin with the stereotypes about Black people being this or that way is to simply respond by saying “Black people do not have a monopoly on vices”. I guess in this situation I would have to tweak it to say “Island women do not have a monopoly on vices!” Kudos to you for identifying community resources for persons affected by violence.
God bless you afro bella. God bless you.
Sadly the majority of people saying she probably started/deserved it are other women.
Since I don’t really follow pop culture very closely this post and its comments (not the outside links, though — I stay far away from gossip blogs) is the most I’ve read about this incident, so thanks for making it, Bella.
I often ask myself: Are people really getting stupider as I’m getting older, or have people always been stupid and I’m just getting better at spotting it?
Men are not supposed to hit women because men are (almost always) STRONGER and can do more damage. I do not understand why stupid people forget that and claim that women hitting men is the same. It’s NOT!
Making generalizations about a whole ethnicity or gender only shows your own STUPIDITY and narrowmindedness. How about getting out of your tiny-ass box and living LIFE?
Finally, since we know that Chris Brown comes from a violent background, Rihanna and any other woman WITH SENSE need to stay away from him UNLESS AND UNTIL he goes through some deep counseling…which I’m sure he can afford. Will that happen? Of course not. Why? BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE STUPID!!!!
(The generalization I’m making applies to the whole human race regardless of color, gender, etc.)
One more thing: I have to cosign ceecee and MoniMoni about the kinds of material you let into your brain. Maybe I should have replaced “stupid” with “ignorant” in my previous post. I try to avoid ignorance whenever and wherever possible. A lot of celebrity media, esp. that which is on the Internet, is a magnet for ignorance. And the sad thing is that you know most of these ignorant mfers wouldn’t say aloud what they say online.
thank you afrobella!
I’m the daughter of an “island woman” and don’t know what the heck those ignorant comments mean.
I hope Mr. Brown gets some help if these charges are true.
Wow! I was not there so I can’t speculate on anything. I just know that my heart is hurt by this and I can only hope that both of them eventually heal and seek help from these wounds (both the physical and emotional).
Well said bella.
Hey Bella,
Hope the dialogue in the comment section isn’t bringing you down. This blog and other pieces are driving discussion and even if we (people) don’t agree in the end, we have addressed the issue and been given the opportunity to open ourselves up and learn not only about the issue, but about ourselves and each other. If we don’t make the most of these opportunities, shame on us. If we use the comment sections to vent, attack or make light, we are waisting our own time. Let people rest on their biases and confuse them with conviction, and take no offense when they state opinion as fact and anecdote as evidence. Please, keep writing about what you are passionate about, and please don’t shy away from controversy. Words have power and can inspire action–even if that action is just to create conversation–and you are doing your part to nudge people away from apathy and complacency.
Even in her own home country of Barbados people are laughing at this incident.Bella if you heard some of the things people are saying about Rihanna , it would make you question if there are any compassionate human beings left.
I’ve said on another blog , that I find it interesting the white blogs have almost convicted him and the black blogs are saying she deserved it.
BlackMuse thank you for this statement: “Tell me, if this story was about a black man being beaten by a white man or better yet a white police officer, would we be talking about seeing both sides or about how Black men can also attack white men? Of course not, because such comments would be irrelevant to the case at hand and would be obvious signs of racism. Why is it so easy for us to see that but not see sexism and misogyny?”
If this was about a police officer abusing a black man we would not care if he was outside a crack house. We’d say the officer was still wrong for abusing him like that or using disproportionate force.
Another thing I don’t understand is why people keep trying to pretend like they’re bringing up something that’s never been discussed before when they say that women sometimes start the fight by hitting the man. Everytime an abuse case comes up that excuse/reasoning (whatever you want to call it) is trotted out. It’s always ‘we don’t know what she did to provoke him. She may have hit him first.’ This happens even if their is no evidence that the woman attacked the man, and it may be wrong of me (since abuse of males does occur), but I get sick of hearing people say that everytime something like this happens. I guess it just bothers me the way some posters have been acting like they’re bringing some new fact to light that women are hiding so they can get away with accusing men of domestic violence. Some of the comments have been so rude that I just stopped reading them.
PLEASE BELLA & SUBSCRIBERS VIEW COMMENT #41 by SacredAngel
“I’m inclined to believe that it was a mutual fight and they laid hands on each other. Young people (I’m 19 by the way) are quick to anger and tend to be physical. It happens. Pity it happened on a night they both needed to be somewhere.â€
I’m 28 & have a sister in law that is 15 & my best friend’s sister is 18 and both wouldn’t blink twice if you ask them if they would fight a boy. Some young women today think it’s perfectly fine to stay in a relationship where they are being hit, if they hit back. If it all matters to some readers one young lady is black & one is white. Let me also say I BURRIED my 21 year old sister in-law last year that was in one of these “relationshipsâ€, shot in the head after one of these “mutual-fightsâ€. I don’t know what the situation is with CB or Rihanna but I do know that domestic violence needs to be talked about in our communities and at a younger age then you would think. Thank you Bella for this post.
Great pot – Bella. I rarely read to celeb blogs and had no idea that this was the hot topic. As a woman of West Indian ancestry I take offense to the “crazy island woman ” comments – painting women with a large brush in negative one stroke.
Hitting a woman is wrong – period regardless. And blaming the woman because her actions provoked her attacker or “caused ” her attacker to hit her were outlandish 50 yrs ago and are outlandish today. There is never a situation where a man is justified in beating a woman.
I hope that the family and friends of Rhianna and Chris provide mature and level-headed counsel for the 2 of them.
I teach at an all-girls high. Before class started yesterday, the girls were talking about the Chris Brown/Rihanna incident and one of them said, “She deserved it. She looks like someone who would be annoying. She needs to get popped in the head.” The statement was disturbing on so many levels. First of all, the girls are inundated with feminist ideals, so I wouldn’t expect that comment from any of them. Second of their young women and I hate that they think if a person “did something to deserve it,” they should be abused physically.
Thank you for the wisdom and insight here. It’s such a mess already and a very teachable moment for our community.
Also @ Mrs.Mckinzie,
I don’t know your background or where you are from but growing up in the Bay Area I’ve been exposed to every Culture you can think of, what you are feeling is a nasty attitude towards you can be a misunderstanding of culture. Something as simple as a greeting, some cultures don’t wave, don’t shake hands, look you directly in the eye or may return a “hello” with a small nod, might be considered rude if you aren’t aware of the intention behind it. I’m not saying this is what is happening in your case but I’m just trying to offer a different perspective.
When I first visited NY, I was going from stereotypes on TV & movies and I thought everyone was going to be rude but when I got there I realized that NYers aren’t rude but are very direct because their lifestyles are more fast-paced than California’s. What some may think is rude, I took as a form of communication necessary for the every day hustle & bustle. Shout out the BRONX!
I’m not inclined to believe it’s abuse until an investigation by someone authorized to do so says so. I live by facts and I’m sorry if that’s not good enough for some of you. Abuse female to male does happen and is often overlooked due to pigeonholing. Which is why you wait until trained professionals investigate until you make up your mind.
Bella as a college educated person (because gender is irrelevant to this) and a journalist I expected more from you and frankly I’m disappointed. Objectivity and the actual truth is the name of the game.
Perfectly said. I couldn’t agree more.
” I’m not inclined to believe it’s abuse until an investigation by someone authorized to do so says so.”…
What else do you need? Hospital, reports, dark SUV with lawyer driving, endorsements cancelled…what else do you need?
Abuse is abuse no matter who does what to whom. One thing for sure, he’s not getting dropped from deals because they don’t have the facts..
I hope to God no one ever goes upside your head (or anyone else you may know and love) and then tells you, until they get an investigation authorized they won’t believe you/them.
My God…that’s a careless statement if I’ve ever heard one.
Not to mention, your parting words to Bella were quite disrespectful. Bella is quite older (than you that is, since your website states that you are 19) and most of us on this site may have a bit more experience in living life. So that was completely uncalled for.
Actually no it wasn’t. Bella is a journalist. Part of journalism is being objective. Someone else said it also: as a woman from the islands she might be too close to this to give it a good eye.
Whatever happened to the truth?
And you’re completely right. Abuse no matter who does it is wrong. Which is why I’m not calling CB an abuser and I’m not calling Rihanna an abuser. It’s not up to me or any of you to believe her and run with it. It’s up to the police to investigate it and her family to support her. Point blank period.
Thanks for coming to my defense, Moni Moni, but I’m really not too concerned about what Sacred Angel thinks about my opinion or my blog or my journalistic integrity. Yes, I’ve worked as a professional, paid journalist. But this is my blog, my opinion, my place online to state what I think and how I feel. And Sacred Angel, perhaps someday you’ll realize how your statements here come across to me and to others.
I never denied female/male abuse takes place, where did you even get that from? My point is, Chris Brown should never have hit her. He is bigger and stronger, has martial arts training and obviously can inflict more damage. He is a man. Men should not hit women. Plain and simple. As I said in my post, the only people that presently know exactly what happened between this young couple are Chris Brown, Rihanna, whoever may have been in the vehicle with them, and the law enforcement officials who are investigating this crime. I am not posting the crazy hearsay and rumors I’ve seen on other blogs, but here someone goes, accusing me of lacking objectivity and journalistic skills. All I can do is sigh and move on to the next post, and wish you the best of luck with life.
Sacred Angel, feel free to keep on being disappointed. I’m going to keep on stating my opinion and my truth as clearly as I possibly can. Not everyone will understand, and not everyone will be pleased. You’ve proven that tonight. Blessings.
DA asks police for more investigation of Brown
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
2 hrs 59 mins ago
LOS ANGELES – A district attorney’s spokeswoman says Los Angeles police have presented a case regarding singer Chris Brown, but county prosecutors have asked for further investigation.
Spokeswoman Jane Robison did not release information on the nature of the case police presented to prosecutors Tuesday, and she says the district attorney’s office will have no further comment pending the investigation.
Police booked Brown on Sunday for investigation of making a criminal threat after a woman accused him of assaulting her the night before the Grammy Awards.
The Los Angeles Times, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, has reported that the woman is pop superstar Rihanna, his longtime girlfriend.
Brown is free on $50,000 bail.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What more is needed? Oh, and let’s just say it wasn’t Rhianna, since the reports state “a woman”, he assaulted someone. So what more abuse proof do you need? One thing is for sure, Rhianna has not been seen, has cancelled shows, so just how bad are her wounds?
One thing for sure, Chris did not post $50k in bail for nothing.
Being objective still does not give you the right to be careless with your statements, IMO journalist back in the day just got the facts, gave an opposing view, but did have a bit of ethics when delivering their views. Sensationalized journalism has made getting the news pure hell, not to mention unprofessional.
I respect that you know that there are two sides to a story, but remember, someone did get assaulted. Just as we have been saying that people have been making stupid statements, what you said was thoughtless. Any woman(or man if it would make you happy) who may have been abused would have read that and clearly felt that again, blame the victim.
Perfect statement for jury duty, not on print…you clearly sounded like a you were defending the person committing the crime.
You have your view, I have mine. And as I stated earlier, I hope you never get attacked by anyone, because those words may be the very ones that come back to haunt you.
Have good evening bellas!
Thank you for speaking out about this. You shouldn’t hit. Period. Men or Women.
Hugs and Mocha,
Stesha Sims
Hey Bella,
Not really coming to defense of just you, but for people in general. As I stated, people get really disrespectful on blogs and it is just uncalled for. Which is why I choose to read blogs or newspapers, such as this one, to get at least a view which does not dwell on name calling or grandstanding a persons “political/social viewpoint”.
Sigh…honey where is the humanity?! LOL!!
Have a good night Bella! P.S. Looking forward to reading about your move to Chi town!
Say what you want to. I’ve noticed this online before as far as what African American women expect and I’m over it. I don’t know you from Jane on the street and I’m approaching you as one blogger to another. Not parent to child or mentor to student or anything of that nature. I’m sorry if you were expecting something you were not due. You can have a personal blog and you can be an online journalist. Come across as both and you get what you got on this post.
You are assuming that Chris Brown hit Rihanna. Heck we’re assuming that the woman in question IS Rihanna. It could be some crazed fan and Rihanna is choosing to publicly stay out of it for the sake of her endorsements. Bottom line is no one knows.
Oh when I said that statement was perfect for jury duty, I meant that that statement would determine whether or not they would keep you on or throw you off the case…
Just had to clear that up.
Thanks, Moni Moni! I can’t wait for my move either!
You are not going to have every television and news report state that you are the one that was attacked, and have reports that you have bite marks, purple brusies, I mean really, if you are up on your journalism, you heard what they have said, and not at least be in the public eye. Especially if you have a career and endorsements as well.
If it was a crazed fan, I’m sure it would have came out by now.
Please.
And MM is supposedly this and allegedly that. Rihanna is not related to me. If she were I’d have a completely different viewpoint. But for me to get involved in a very personal point in someone’s life, I need cold hard facts. Otherwise their business is their business. And as for the bail that has a lot to do with his career. When have you ever seen a celebrity post a low bail?
Yes, Bella, and give us pictures! LOL!
I’m out…can’t even bear to get into it with sacredangel again…bless her twisted soul..
it’s*
At any rate arguing with people over the internet is ridiculous. We all have our own life views that have been shaped by a variety of different things.
….I’m tempted to say something but I won’t. I will note this as a time I exercised restraint.
Hello Bella,
Been following you on twitter for a while now,nice job.
Now, my thoughts.
Great publicity for both Chris and Rhianna.
There is a chance they may get back together.
People should go to therapy and learn to keep their hands to themselves.
Again, keep up the good work.
I agree with you Bella.. It is a sad situation and I hope that they are both able to get some help.. I don’t know what really happened and I just pray that they get through this. They are both beautiful and talented.. Abuse in any form isn’t ok and hopefully Chris will get some help.
whew! There is too much rumor and hearsay and personal opinions going around about Chris and Rihanna. WHATEVER happened, it is never ok to hit a woman if you are a man. I’m waiting for the facts to come out. The fact that he posted bail simply means that there was enough evidence to CHARGE him with something (NOT CONVICT him) and he agrees to appear in court to face those charges. They may be dropped at the araignment, or before then. Wait until we have all the facts before we judge either party. I was never a big Chris Brown fan and if this is true and he did hit her, for whatever reason, his career is OVER, hopefully. It’s sad all around that these two young people were both involved in this terrible event.
This is wonderful. So well written and CORRECT!
I got into a huge brawl on Gawker last night with a bunch of Chris Brown apologists who also suggested the media was going hard on him because he was black.
My response to that is: Where is the concern for the black WOMAN in this situation? Why is everyone more concerned that he might get railroaded than they are about whether she’s still got all her teeth after the beating he laid on her?
As I said last night, it’s still a man’s world.
As a Caribbean woman; born, raised and residing; I find it offensive that people think women from our region are crazy. I can’t help it if we represent ourselves and stand up for what we believe in. We’re feisty, we’re fighters and you don’t have to go all Rambo on a guy but I know if I’m being threatened I’m protecting me. I think that’s a character trait of most, not all but most, black women in general. My African American friends represent themselves as well when something is happening to them. Does that make them crazy?
On the other side of the game, abuse is abuse whether someone is laying their hands on you or verbally assaulting you. Abuse is wrong and it doesn’t matter your sex or race, it’s just wrong. I saw a comment from Kanye West on what happened and he said whether she’s a celeb or flippin burgers at McDonald’s she doesn’t deserve that. No one deserves abuse.
I’m sorry but when my daddy slipped and lost his mind and tried to beat me, and i’m not talking about some lil spanking that we usually get but fists and blows, I was hitting him right back. I came out with a black eye but so did he! That was the first and last and I represented myself. I didn’t do any voodoo or anything I just stood up for me.
People need to stop making excuses and realize he (Chris Brown) might be in need of help. The both of them might be in need. Let’s love Caribbean women and women and general. Say no to tearing one another down.
For all of those who say Bella can’t be “objective” (as if ANYONE can be totally objective) simply because she’s from the Islands….I suppose there are a lot of Black journalist who need to have their integrity automatically questioned now that Obama is in Office. Their ethnicity ALONE is not a hinderance. That assumption alone is offensive and implies that she has not the critical skills to at least attempt to analyze this without the “overpowering influence of her islandness”…PLEASE. Perhaps her opinion stems from her womanhood? Or simply a conclusion drawn from observation. And to the person who thinks all foreign Black women are mean to her. Often times when you see a “problem” that only seems to afflict you….YOU are the common denominator. It may be your misinterpretation of their behavior rather than some unfounded hate foreign black women have for you. Seriously where are our thinking caps…..
Domestic violence in uncool. There is no room for this type of behaviour in our society.
There can be no excuse for any type of abuse.
Young Brown needs urgent help.
I’m sure this will ruin his career. That’s what he gets! I don’t feel bad for anybody that beats women. My heart goes out to Rihanna, I have a daughter her age.
Bail is not determined due to the success of a person’s career, SacredAngel. It’s determined based on the severity of the crime and related charges.