Today our favorite sports stations have been overrun with police reports, leaked elevator footage, battery, abuse, and domestic violence. Women’s advocacy groups are calling for Roger Goodell’s head on a platter and the media is in a frenzy acting as if Ray Rice in the elevator was ground zero for the domestic violence epidemic.
It’s getting a little out of hand. Covergirl has fallen under fire and their new ad has become the face of the Goodell boycott after the model donning Raven’s purple was altered to have a black eye. Ray Rice’s now wife has become a target herself and Raven’s fans are burning his jersey in the street like it was 2010 in Cleveland with Lebron James leaving, so why is everyone so up in arms? The Ray Rice incident happened in February, but here we are in September all of a sudden concerned?
Ray Rice was wrong. Roger Goodell was wrong. America has it all wrong.
Goodell’s decision to suspend Rice indefinitely only came after the graphic video of Ray Rice knocking out his then girlfriend, Janay Palmer, released by TMZ went viral. After much public scrutiny the NFL acted, for a second time, but this time much harsher. Fans and viewers alike interpreted these actions as the NFL taking the stance of not caring about domestic violence or their female fan base by being so dismissive. Newsflash America: America does not care about domestic violence unless you are in the spotlight.
When it comes to these scandals, everybody loves a scapegoat, someone to point the finger at, someone to make an example of instead of their own faults. Ray Rice is America’s scapegoat, but Ray Rice is not the center of the problem here.
The problem is that we as a society do not hold athletes, celebrities or the rich and famous accountable for their actions unless someone else points it out and says we should. Why are we not calling on Floyd Mayweather, after he was convicted on multiple counts of battery and abuse? No one is asking him to step down or return any of his belts. In 2013, Celtics basketball player Jared Sullinger was suspended for only one game after being charged with domestic violence, which was later dropped. Just recently MMA fighter War Machine beat up his girlfriend Christy Mack, leaving her laying in a hospital bed with 18 broken bones, missing teeth, and a ruptured liver.
Is America going to boycott MMA, basketball, football and boxing altogether or call for resignation letters? I do not think so, because America’s “concern” about domestic violence is not sincere. We hardly ever hold these men of power accountable, we blame the victims and we blame the NFL, the NBA, and the sports commissioners on their leniency. The NFL is a football league, not law and order; it should stop being treated as such. Why don’t we blame our court systems? The lawmakers? The judges? Why don’t you blame yourself, America.
