Let me wade into the gator-filled waters here. Why haven’t we heard the voice of Janay Palmer Rice through all this sound and fury over the horror of her husband hitting her? Wasn’t she the victim? Didn’t she take the blow?
Why then isn’t her voice given any credibility in the endless rounds of opinion-addicted pundits spouting on and on about how dastardly Ray Rice was in striking her? How can they so blithely impose their own agendas on someone else’s plight?
Everybody else has very liberally provided their interpretations of this sordid affair, but we have yet to hear Mrs. Rice say anything except she’s sorry this all happened, and why won’t people leave them alone—stay out of her and her husband’s business.
Fine, I may be the male chauvinist point of view here, but weren’t they fighting when the camera first filmed them getting on the elevator? Weren’t they dousing each other with obscenities? Doesn’t the slowed down camera even show that she spat at or on her then-fiance’ just before he punched her?
Ray Rice is paid to be a violent man. He hits and is hit as a career. Spitting on or at a man like that is always a very risky proposition.
Not saying she caused herself to be punched out. I am saying, however, that in the heat of what was clearly an overheated discussion, they both got out of hand. Mr. Rice would have to have been a very extraordinary warrior-man to have restrained himself in that situation. However, he admittedly wasn’t, nor would almost any other such man. In anger, this was combat, and he was physically combative. To say he will always be this way—do it once, you’ll do it again—is psychobabble.
Much more important to note is that they both got over it and moved on. This is evident from the fact that several days later, they voluntarily recited wedding vows to each other. Mr. Rice did not drag Janay Palmer to the ceremony, nor she him. However, to listen to the all-knowing pundits, Janay Palmer was traumatized and bullied into marrying Ray Rice.
Well, why don’t they ask her? Put her on some of these interview shows—MSNBC, CNN, etc.—and ask her to tell HER story. Don’t try and write the script for her, and don’t try to tell her what to say. Women of the world unite is not what this is about.
I’ve seen at least 20 reports on this situation, and not once have I noticed anyone asking Mrs. Rice if she feels that she is a victim—that she feels she’s being held hostage. Certainly, now would be the perfect time to escape if she felt put upon. In this Salem witch trial-climate, she could clean Ray Rice’s financial clock quite easily, with the help of all of her new-found, but not-asked for, friends.
Mr. Rice has recently sued the NFL. If justice is done, he will eventually prevail and get his job back with the Baltimore Ravens, though they would almost certainly trade him rather than play him. The shifting standards by which he was judged, punished, re-judged and punished even more harshly will most likely wither in the light of legality and contract language. Law enforcement in the area has already exonerated him.
Mrs. Rice will no doubt have her say in all this, as she surely should. Methinks we should give it a careful listen, in spite of our collective certitude regarding the monster her husband showed himself to be. It will be refreshing to finally hear her words instead of all those supposedly speaking FOR her.
Those living in glass houses should be careful of throwing stones at others…
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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