NEVER AGAIN! NO MORE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE!
(The above picture is of Kasandra Perkins with her baby)
I've been avoiding trying to read anything about the recent domestic violence incident in which NFL player Jovan Belcher decided to murder his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins before killing himself. I've been avoiding it, because I knew that he was going to be portrayed in the media as a hero/God/king, and she was going to be blamed for what happened. I also knew that all the men of the NFL and the fans would stand up for him and support him. How did I know this? Because this is ALWAYS what happens. And to no surprise this is exactly what's happened this time around.
As someone who is the survivor of domestic violence both as a child at the hands of my dad and then at the hands of a boyfriend in college, I can tell you that there is ONLY one victim in that situation. The abuser chooses to be that way, and the thought that either of these men who tormented me for most of my life, would be honored in death makes me feel so incredibly sick. He chose to kill this young woman, and to leave the child she had with him without a mother. That little girl is going to go through hell every single day of her life, because of what he chose to do. That doesn't make him a hero or a victim, it makes him evil. For once in my life I wish that I would come across a man who would actually stand up and fight for me. The majority of men in the public eye have histories or allegations of domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, etc. and there aren't any men who ever speak out against them, and stand up for the women in their lives. Being silent doesn't make you a good man, it makes you just as evil as them.
This incident has reminded me of why I do the type of work that I do, and why I'm devoting my life to helping women and girls so that this will stop. Because let's be realistic the male population is NEVER going to choose to be good people, it's really up to us as women to ban together, support each other, and demand that they are held responsible for the way they've chosen to treat us. It's also made me remember why I'm single, because I can't date a man who wouldn't stand up and fight for me. I could've easily been this young woman, and everyday that all the so called "good men" choose to not fight for us, is another day that we suffer because of it. All I know is that if everything had been reversed I would've stood up and fought for you guys, and clearly that would've been a huge mistake.
This is a great article that talks about some of the ways the media has covered this case, which is typical in all cases in which men choose to commit violence against us. This is because the entire media is run by MEN, so they just use it as another outlet to support each other, instead of holding each other responsible for the way they choose to act. Some important points are:
"And while we’ve lost 6,614 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the same period of time 11,766 women were killed as the result of domestic violence in this country.
Yet despite these facts, here’s the narrative of Perkins’ murder as it unfolded over the weekend and through today. Belcher, who shot the mother of his child in their home, with their daughter present and in the next room was a “happy, proud, father,” a “family guy” who was clearly pushed to the edge by Perkins who one outlet described as a “catalyst” in her own murder.
For the right, there is never an “appropriate” time to talk about gun violence or domestic violence, a reality the National Football League must be counting on given that this year alone of the 32 teams in the NFL, 21 have had at least one player who’s been charged with either domestic violence or sexual assault."
http://www.care2.com/causes/a-culture-of-death-guns-domestic-violence-and-the-murder-of-kasandra-perkins.html
This article below talks about Notre Dame covering up allegations of rape against their football players in order to protect them. As the article asks:
How many predators would have to be on the team before you’d no longer feel like cheering?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2012/12/04/why-i-wont-be-cheering-for-old-notre-dame/?tid=pm_politics_pop
