We Must Protect Our Sons – and Daughters
By Marc H. Morial
President & CEO, National Urban League
In the wake of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO – as well as John Crawford, III in Ohio, Eric Garner in New York, Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis in Florida, and so many more across the nation – I recently wrote that our nation needs to place a higher value, and specifically a human value, on the lives of our young Black men. Today, I send a similar message about the value we place on our women.
The issue of domestic violence in our nation is one that we must continually confront with no tolerance and no excuses. Since the issue has hit news headlines again following the release of the full tape this week showing former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée/now-wife in an Atlantic City casino elevator, I have been both appalled by observers who spread ridiculous blame-the-victim rhetoric and saddened by the thought that many victims internalize this false logic.
Domestic violence against anyone has no place in any relationship – and the horrendous nature of it remains even when it is not captured on camera or doesn’t become a national news story. As a nation and as a community, we have a responsibility to not turn a blind eye to these situations because of fame, wealth, power, position, prominence or otherwise. As a husband, son, father of two daughters and brother of two sisters, I cannot support assertions that “seeing the video changed everything.†Simply having knowledge of abuse against women should be enough for all of us to be in uproar against it.
Both the NFL and the Ravens have admitted – after much public backlash – that their initial responses to the incident were lax and inappropriate. Rice has acknowledged his “inexcusable†actions and “the biggest mistake†of his life, and Ipray for the best for his family as they work through a difficult time. But this issue is about more than Rice and more than the NFL. It is about who we are as a nation. It’s time for us to take a stand against part-time outrage regarding domestic violence. Our mothers, daughters, wives, sisters and friends are counting on us.
