Janay Rice

It has to be awful to become a symbol of stereotype views on aspects of the human condition that need to be changed by society.  What can true for many is not necessarily true of any one individual.

Yet, without any knowledge of the inner workings of that individual's mind, commentators use the publicity value of a husband's bad act to project a stereotype upon this victim; which may or may not be valid, and feel no need to acknowledge that this situation may not reflect what many situations do reflect.

The result is this poor couple have their private situation become known to millions of people who all  create an opinion and they have no privacy left as soon as someone learns their name.  Something is terribly wrong with that.

I am not stating all this with any belief that Ray Rice should not suffer some punishment for his act.  He has acknowledged that and said he is responsible and remorseful.  I live in the town next to where Ray Rice grew up and have followed his football career since he received an award along with my son.

When he says he is remorseful and this one act is not who he is and he will work every day to be a good person, I believe him.  Since Janay Rice married him after the incident, she apparently believes him.  If you have seen the video, you should have noticed they both appeared to be drunk, and while that does not create an excuse for the act, it does offer an explanation for how they created the situation together and why they have remained committed to each other.  They both seem remorseful.

My real point is, people working on protecting real victims of domestic violence should know that every situation is different, and unless there is a repetitive pattern, it is likely their stereotyping of the situation is wrong.

Only Janay and Ray know for sure.  Surely they deserve the privacy to find healing if there is no repeat of the behavior.