The images flickering on my television and the news reader’s words seemed out sync. There was a clip of Rihanna twirling a staff during a dance number in a music video, while the newsman said something about Chris Brown having been arrested and Rihanna hospitalized.
I immediately thought that the two, who have been dating for some time, were involved into a car crash. Maybe Brown was arrested for reckless driving or driving under the influence. But as the details of this situation unfolded the next day, it began to look like Chris Brown was under allegations of domestic violence, that he apparently beat Rihanna so badly that her injuries had to be treated at a hospital. As far as I know, there has not been any solid confirmation that the woman Chris Brown allegedly beat up was Rihanna. But all available evidence point to that conclusion. 

This is tragic. A successful, handsome young black man with a promising future might very well have thrown his life away because of a violent temper. Worse still, yet another woman — and a black woman at that — had to suffer physical brutality at the hands of a husband or boyfriend. I decided not to read all of the news accounts of Brown’s alleged rough treatment toward his girlfriend, because I felt like doing that would have made me really angry. Instead, I mourned the loss of any hope for the hip hop and R&B genre of music. Not only is the music becoming more and more vapid and trifling, but a lot of these stars seem to think that the only way to exist, much less excel on that music scene is to be a whore or a thug. With his talent, charm, smile and wholesome handsomeness, Chris Brown had as pure an image as one could have on that scene. Who knew he was capable of beating a woman so severely that she had to be hospitalized. And I cannot accept the argument that the music scene turned him into that kind of monster. If the allegations turn out to be true, then this young man would have shown us that he is capable of terrible violence. Even if he were a regular, workaday guy, he might one day be arrested for beating his girlfriend or wife. Horrible. 

The only other “good man” left in the genre with the same prominence, charm and appeal  is Usher. And he better not lay a hand on his wife, because she looks like she would hit back. Hard. 

If this were a one-track-minded blog, this is the point at which I would launch into a poorly worded diatribe about the evils of worshipping black male celebrity figures. If this were a blog that actively encourages black women to consider dating outside their race, among other forms of empowerment, I might carry on about how horrible it is that the health and safety of yet another black woman was sacrificed, just so that she could continue in a relationship approved of by the black community. If this were a “Go Get Yours, Girl!” type blog, I might go so far as to say that Rihanna should have stuck with former sweetheart, Josh Hartnett, who would never have done this. 

I might say all of that, but for the complication of Christian Bale. He is a rich and famous actor who is beginning to get a reputation as a hot head, unfortunately. Apparently, he was part a major ruckus involving his mother and sister, which got so heated that the police were called. No charges of battery or domestic violence were filed, if I remember reading all those stories correctly. More recently, celebrity news outlets ran a story saying that he lost his temper with a production worker on the set of the latest “Terminator” film. Question: For the Terminator film, is Bale playing one of the evil unfeeling robots from the future? I’m just saying … if he has a nasty temper … it might be a comfortable role for him. If it is true, then there goes the argument that black women like Rihanna might have been better off with a white guy. 

Readers, I hope you don’t need me to tell you this, but in case you do, here goes: Never let a man beat you or heap verbal abuse on you. Whether it’s a black man’s fist or a white man’s full-blast obscenities, abuse is abuse, and you shouldn’t tolerate it. At least hit him back if he does hit you. If he cannot learn his lesson, will not reform and cannot bring himself to treat you with respect, then you need to leave him alone and move on to a better life.

Let’s all pray for Rihanna’s speedy recovery, and that young Mr. Brown reforms and redeems himself before becoming this generation’s Ike Turner.