It is shocking and unbelievable to me why Rihanna is taking Chris Brown back. Media today is pointing to puppy love. And this being a trend with victims of abuse – that they go back several times. Well, I think there are many victims in this situation that Rhianna represents. Just as Barack Obama represented hope for Americans for a better country, a better economy, a better world – if Rhianna does the right thing here, she can represent hope for a better world for abuse victims and minority women. But even if she can’t do the self-less thing and think of the bigger picture that this represents, she can do the selfish thing and think about herself too. Here is my personal plea to Rihanna to do the right thing. And if she doesn’t listen, then Jay-Z knows what the right thing is, and should step in to make it happen.
1. For the Progression of Blacks in America
The US gets a black President and first family, who represents hope for all American minorities and a beacon against the “defeatist culture of black victimhood”. And just a short while later, we have the epitome of stereotypical Black ghetto culture of violence against women, getting the checkmark of approval from one of pop’s brightest stars. Not only does this shatter the hope for blacks, that their role models perpetuate the culture of putting women down; but it perpetuates the negative racial stereotypes that whites hold against blacks. Just take a look at the comments posted on gossip websites like WWTDD.com, right after this news broke, where people were laughing and making sarcastic remarks about “a black man beating up his girlfriend – that’s a first”. Obama took one giant leap forward for America, only to be put back one giant step by Rhianna.
2. For Women and Young Girls
Regardless of color, Rihanna needs to leave for the sake of other abused women and young girls that look up to her. Abused women need hope, someone to look to for strength. Young girls need to be guided in the right direction that it’s not OK to be abused by a boyfriend. She goes back, and she puts all women’s groups efforts for equality backwards by several steps with her high profile abuse case. Whether she likes it or not, she is an idol and a media sensation, and needs to hold herself to higher standards of representing women.
3. For Jay-Z’s Empire
Jay-Z hasn’t made his fortune by accident. With his smarts, he has helped bring hip-hop to mainstream listeners. With Rihanna as a member of his entourage and empire, his own image and, subsequently, profits, are on the line. Yes, he has Beyonce and others, but if he wants to keep leveraging the bank of young Rhianna, he needs to convince her to leave or step in with a heavier force.
4. For her career
So if she didn’t want to take the selfless route and do it for blacks or for women, she should at least take a look at her own career. People want to believe that pop stars are a step above the rest of us, that they are untouchable, that they have beaten the odds. That’s why we put them on a pedestal. Rihanna being beaten by her boyfriend? That’s far too close to reality for some, and not the kind of girl that (hopefully) young girls want to have pin-ups of on their bedroom walls. Just as Chris Brown’s album plummeted in the Billboard charts immediately after the beating, Rhianna’s career will plummet if she goes back to this.
5. Because he’ll do it again
OK, so if she can’t be selfless, and can’t think about her career, do it for your damn personal safety and happiness. She admitted that the beating that took place the night before the Grammy’s wasn’t the first. What makes her think it’s going to be the last? Wake up honey, you can find happiness and love where men won’t beat you, or threaten to beat you.
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