But for reporters on deadline, it’s easier to write about Perkins’s murder as if it were a freak occurrence rather than part of a systemic football (or national) problem, because systemic problems are not as sexy to readers and they require a lot of contextualization and research. But in cases like this, we need to (FoxNews.com points out that Belcher had a history of anger when women didn’t do as he liked). Shining light on domestic violence lets victims know they are not alone and points them toward help; it also sends a signal to abusers that assaulting the women in their lives is not socially acceptable. We should not glorify Belcher by painting him as the victim of circumstance here.
The Boston Globe’s Christopher L. Gasper said it best: “Belcher wasn’t befallen by a tragedy. He was the perpetrator of one.”
Good column, but it still misses the point. Why does everything have to be shoehorned into a discussion of race and gender? Just as Belcher shouldn't be forgiven because he' a sports player or a minority, Perkins' murder is no less (or more) terrible because she happens to be female.
#1 Posted by JLD, CJR on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 06:07 PM
JLD,
It's you who've missed the point. Correctly identifying that the motive in this case was domestic violence is not "shoehorning" anything.
That the statistics are worse among African-Americans is a germaine fact, not some extraneous detail.
And it's not because Perkins "happens to be female" that this case is so terrible. It's the possibility that with greater public awareness of domestic violence, her murder -- and Belcher's suicide -- might have been avoided.
I do, however, agree with the subtext of your comment: it IS much easier just to hide one's head in the sand.
#2 Posted by CattyNineTails, CJR on Fri 7 Dec 2012 at 07:25 PM