Junior English major
I’m a born-and-bred Baltimorean who grew up in a family that places the Baltimore Ravens on a pedestal. I’ve been raised to despise the Pittsburgh Steelers, worship Matt Stover and Tony Siragusa, chant “Hey diddle diddle, Ray Rice up the middle” and to basically bleed black and purple. However, I was not raised to support a domestic abuser.
Earlier this summer, the National Football League suspended Ravens running back Ray Rice for two games in response to video footage of him dragging his unconscious fiancee, Janay Palmer (now his wife, Janay Rice), out of an elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Rice was charged with aggravated assault, but in May, he applied for an intervention program for first-time offenders to avoid a trial and potential jail time. Then the Internet exploded Monday afternoon when TMZ released new footage of Rice punching Palmer out cold inside the elevator. The Ravens terminated Rice’s contract, and the league suspended him indefinitely.
Rice’s actions, like those of anyone who raises a hand to a significant other, were and forever will be deplorable and shameful.
However, I want to comment on the league’s decision. With the most recent suspension of Rice, the league made the right decision and is doing a great deal to raise awareness about domestic violence. Yet, I wonder: If the new footage had not been released to the public, would league Commissioner Roger Goodell have made the same decision to suspend Rice for the foreseeable future?
Whether or not the league saw the footage of Rice punching Janay before TMZ leaked it, its decision to indefinitely suspend him afterward says to the public: “You can knock your significant other out cold and move them out of an elevator like a dead body — just don’t get caught doing it.”
Rice is not the first professional football player to domestically abuse a significant other or family member; he is just the most recent to get caught.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in every four women has suffered “severe physical violence by an intimate partner.” Many Ray Rice advocates say that Janay’s decision to stay with him after he abused her, and her statement that the media have taken away something Rice has worked incredibly hard for, somehow negate his actions. Victims of domestic violence often stay in abusive relationships because of the psychological trauma they have experienced — something Janay could have experienced. Despite her decision to remain with Rice, her actions should not be used as an argument to defend Rice’s abusive behavior.
The argument has been made time and time again that a man shouldn’t hit a woman and a woman shouldn’t hit a man. It’s basic manners that most people are taught in the earliest stages of life, yet grown adults still don’t seem to follow the rule, and the NFL does not seem to enforce it — unless there is video footage.
Unfortunately, there are men and women out there who are not public figures like Rice and will continue to abuse their significant others, children and other family members without facing the public backlash Rice has received.
While the NFL’s decision to not tolerate Rice’s behavior might have come a little too late, hopefully its decision sends a message to all league players and domestic abusers across the country.
We can only hope that Rice gets the help he needs and that awareness of domestic abuse will rise in all careers — not just the public ones.
Maggie Cassidy is a junior English major. She can be reached at mcassidydbk@gmail.com.
