It seems like a week can’t pass by without Chris Brown appearing in the news. Whether he’s fighting with other musical artists, falsifying his community service documentation or comparing himself to Jesus on Instagram, Brown seems to be everywhere and I have had enough of it.
The boiling point came during the telecast of the Grammy Awards. Among all the celebrities and singers, there was one pivotal shot; during one of those predictable tight pans of the audience, the camera found Rihanna. She looked beautiful in her red gown as she smiled widely for the camera. But despite the tight frame of the camera angle, it was impossible not to notice Brown seated next to her.
My stomach immediately began to turn at this view. I had seen photographs of Brown and Rihanna together recently and even saw video of them at a Lakers game, so I had been aware that they might possibly be back in a romantic relationship. But the image of them together at the Grammys live on camera was more than I could stomach.
In 2009, both singers bowed out of attending the Grammys, due to the late-night car ride incident that changed everything between them and how fans view them.
Public interest was sparked by photos of Rihanna’s bruised and battered face splashed all over the media and the police report made public online. Many fans have scrutinized the interviews both have given, decrypted the music created in the accident’s aftermath and formed their own opinions about whether the two singers should be together.
Brown later admitted that he domestically abused Rihanna and beat her up that night in 2009, yet he did not spend significant time in jail.
With the media’s help, we are treated to the awful details of their relationship. But, for the past couple of months, news about them has been on overdrive.
Brown’s recent acts of violence toward other performers, such as Drake and, most recently, Frank Ocean, shows that his violent nature hasn’t changed that much.
Ocean, an openly gay R&B singer, told investigators that Brown threatened to shoot him during a fight over a parking space at a Los Angeles-area studio on Jan. 27. In the police report, Ocean said that Brown punched him, yelled an anti-gay slur and that Brown and his entourage said they could “bust” him, which investigators wrote is slang for “shoot.”
Blinded by a false sense of love, Rihanna seems to have forgotten the terrible things that Brown has done to her. It baffles me that she has gotten herself into this predicament. Coming from a strong Caribbean family background, she has created the image of a good girl who came to America and made it big thanks to her voice.
In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Rihanna recently said, “Even if it’s a mistake, it’s my mistake. After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I’d rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it.”
It’s her mistake and, maybe, she is right. On paper, none of this is any of our business. People can date whomever they want. They can forgive, despite all evidence of an ongoing threat of violence. And if a woman indeed becomes a victim of domestic violence, it is the fault of the attacker, not the woman.
Yet, I feel Rihanna should know about the statistics on domestic abuse and realize the possibility of a repeat performance by a man with a history of violent behavior.
It makes me angry to think of many young women looking to Rihanna and Brown and thinking there’s something hip or romantic about sticking by a man who beats the hell out of you.
This is not a classic case of a woman with no job, no education and no money being stuck with a man she needs for support. This is not a single mother with no place to go if she leaves an abusive, violent man. This is, sadly, a case of a the heart conquering the mind.
