from Diary of an Anxious Black Woman
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Does "Domestic Violence" Lessen the Severity of Racial and Sexual Violence?
I have to ask this question because I've been reading various blogs responding to the recent case of the heinous torture and abuse of a black woman by six white supremacists in West Virginia, and too many have been commenting - with the latest details revealing that the victim may have had a relationship with one of the young men - that this seems to be "just a domestic violence incident." Just a domestic violence incident?!
So, let me get this straight. Up until that little reveal, everyone was pretty much on board that this case was heinous, cruel, evil, demonic, and purely craptastic because we had the impression that the unsuspecting victim had been lured away by evil racist predators since she was "too trusting" by either meeting strangers on the Internet (the first version of the story) or by being led astray by people she "thought were her friends" (the second version of the story). Now is the possibility that the young victim may have been dating one of these guys (and already "transgressing" since she entered into an interracial relationship), so let's not get carried away with our outrage.
Ummmm.....What?! (To quote Geico Caveman - see this intelligent critique - yet again, and I've been doing this often so I had better calm myself down before I end up on a therapist's couch since I may be crazy if the rest of our insane, offensive, whack-job society is considered "normal"). James Baldwin once eloquently wrote how absolutely futile it is to surrender to therapy so as to adjust oneself to a society that is already irreparably damaged by systemic racism, misogyny, and imperialism, so, let's hold onto our sanity and our selves.
I guess I'm wondering why, with the term "domestic violence" added into the mix, we should adjust our attitudes and our outrage over this. In my previous post, I had already concerned myself with the fact that this victim - by virtue of being black and female - is far too vulnerable to the evil vultures we call the Media and, so, will have to needlessly suffer the vilification of her character when new details begin coming out, which may be spun into a yarn that turns her into a "liar" or a "fool" or a "conniving nappyheaded ho." Just wait for it.
In light of the Feds deciding that they will not prosecute this case as a "hate crime", I see the onslaught coming. Of course, in our minds, "hate crime" is a racial issue, and black women have somehow been dismissed from this category. Not to mention that "hate crimes" rarely address gender crimes, like rape and domestic violence, thus leaving black women and other women of color vulnerable and, once again, bleeding at the intersections of race and gender.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Does "Domestic Violence" Lessen the Severity of Racial and Sexual Violence?
I have to ask this question because I've been reading various blogs responding to the recent case of the heinous torture and abuse of a black woman by six white supremacists in West Virginia, and too many have been commenting - with the latest details revealing that the victim may have had a relationship with one of the young men - that this seems to be "just a domestic violence incident." Just a domestic violence incident?!
So, let me get this straight. Up until that little reveal, everyone was pretty much on board that this case was heinous, cruel, evil, demonic, and purely craptastic because we had the impression that the unsuspecting victim had been lured away by evil racist predators since she was "too trusting" by either meeting strangers on the Internet (the first version of the story) or by being led astray by people she "thought were her friends" (the second version of the story). Now is the possibility that the young victim may have been dating one of these guys (and already "transgressing" since she entered into an interracial relationship), so let's not get carried away with our outrage.
Ummmm.....What?! (To quote Geico Caveman - see this intelligent critique - yet again, and I've been doing this often so I had better calm myself down before I end up on a therapist's couch since I may be crazy if the rest of our insane, offensive, whack-job society is considered "normal"). James Baldwin once eloquently wrote how absolutely futile it is to surrender to therapy so as to adjust oneself to a society that is already irreparably damaged by systemic racism, misogyny, and imperialism, so, let's hold onto our sanity and our selves.
I guess I'm wondering why, with the term "domestic violence" added into the mix, we should adjust our attitudes and our outrage over this. In my previous post, I had already concerned myself with the fact that this victim - by virtue of being black and female - is far too vulnerable to the evil vultures we call the Media and, so, will have to needlessly suffer the vilification of her character when new details begin coming out, which may be spun into a yarn that turns her into a "liar" or a "fool" or a "conniving nappyheaded ho." Just wait for it.
In light of the Feds deciding that they will not prosecute this case as a "hate crime", I see the onslaught coming. Of course, in our minds, "hate crime" is a racial issue, and black women have somehow been dismissed from this category. Not to mention that "hate crimes" rarely address gender crimes, like rape and domestic violence, thus leaving black women and other women of color vulnerable and, once again, bleeding at the intersections of race and gender.
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