Sunday, May 27, 2007

Wife Beaters- Not in fashion anymore.

Ok, so the title for this VERY serious Oprah is probably a little flippant.
I watched the video of this woman being abused by her husband, and heard the interview of her sons.

Awful stuff.

I actually want to talk about the idea that people were upset that Oprah showed a Black man abusing a 1/2 white woman.

1- I think for some CRAZY reason, it's better that she's a 1/2 white, and not fully. I can't understand it, but I have a feeling that if she were black it would somehow be less terrible. Crazy.

2- For the people who felt betrayed by Oprah for showing the black man abusing a white woman, I understand. I know how you feel as I was also EMBARRASSED by the abuser, and felt responsible somehow. I am a Latino man (mistaken for black all the time), and am married to a white woman.

When I saw the tape, I immediately felt responsible, or attached to it- like they were doing a story about the "warnings of marrying ethnic men", but that's not fair.

Often the media chooses to tell us the horror stories of ethnic people (it's not like there's a shortage of white abusive men), and I often feel like I am being lumped in with the stories. I probably am.

But I can only be responsible for my own life, and I hope the other people see that too.

Of course, he didn't HELP the situation either!

At some point, all of this won't matter, so why not make it not matter now?

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