Chris Brown has had a rocky two years, to put it mildly. The pop star’s post-domestic violence career has consisted of a series of awkward attempts to repair his once pristine image. It started with an ill-advised apology video posted to YouTube and a less than revealing interview with Larry King, which were more noted for his interesting choices in wardrobe than for any signs of genuine remorse and regret for the 2009 Grammy night incident involving then girlfriend Rihanna.
Click here to view a Grio slideshow of Chris Brown coming of age as a performer
He has released two albums (2009’s Graffiti and F.A.M.E. earlier this year) and enjoyed considerable success with a number of his singles, and always seems on the verge of winning the public over. Then he inexplicably throws out any goodwill he may have earned with yet another act of stupidity and immaturity.
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But no matter how many times he screws up, there seems to be a legion of Chris Brown defenders ready to take up arms and do battle with anyone with even the slightest criticism of the singer. Not long after he was arrested for beating Rihanna, a chorus of “you don’t know what happened. You weren’t there. You don’t know what she did to provoke him. Leave him alone he’s just a kid” sprang forth and attempted to silence anyone who had the audacity to defend the victim in this case, even after the photos of Rihanna’s horribly bruised face surfaced on the Internet.
Click here to view a slideshow of theGrio’s top 10 R&B bad boys
When he cried on stage during a performance tribute for his hero Michael Jackson at the 2010 BET Awards, those who doubted the legitimacy of those tears were derided as “haters” and told they need to get over it and give Brown a chance to redeem himself. And more excuses were made when, only days after tweeting a picture of his certificate of completion for his court-ordered domestic violence class, he was involved in Twitter war of words with former B2K member Raz B and unleashed a load of homophobic slurs and insensitive remarks regarding sexual molestation for large audience of followers to see.
Not satisfied with the mess he created, a few months ago while promoting his latest album on Good Morning America, Brown reportedly trashed the backstage green room, threw a chair through a window, and ripped off his shirt in anger after being asked questions on air regarding the infamous domestic violence incident of two years ago. Again, with much the same rage as Brown exhibited, his loyal fans were there in support.
He is back in the news with rumors of yet another homophobic tirade, this time allegedly during a game of pickup basketball, allegations the singer denies. It becomes more and more difficult to swallow, as his every action is dismissed or explained away by his ardent supporters. It begs the question: through each of his progressively terrible acts, why continue to defend him?Here, it isn’t so much about Brown himself as who and what Brown represents. He is the latest in a long line of young, rich, and famous black men who, whether guilty or not, earn the affection of protection of a sizable amount of the black community because America so often unjustly persecutes young men of color.
From the hundreds of lynchings that took place during the worst of Jim Crow to the Scottsboro boys to the present day prison industrial complex that locks black men away in prison at alarming rates, our community has had to rally around many black men who have felt the cruel sting of American racism, while their white male counterparts engage in behavior similar or worse and feel little of what is born down upon black men.
It’s why so many were upset that Charlie Sheen was embraced as an anti-hero during his most recent breakdown and media blitz, despite his own past history of violence against women, while Brown was vilified.
In a country where black men are afforded so little, when one of us “makes it” it becomes a source of pride for an entire race. Subsequently, when it appears all that man has worked for is being stripped from him by a bloodthirsty media, we instinctively run to his rescue. Mike Tyson, O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Vick, and others have benefited from this support. In most cases, the actual guilt or innocence of the black man in question is irrelevant, because the cloud of racist oppression that hangs over the black community trumps all.
Chris Brown has clearly enjoyed the fruits of this protection. It was no more evident than during the 2011 broadcast of the BET Awards, where the network and his fellow artists all but crowned the entertainer, heaping praise on him at every turn. This impulse is understandable, but ultimately not helpful.
Black men are subject to great injustices, but there are times when they are perpetrators as well. To treat black men as if they can never do wrong because they experience racism in their everyday lives absolves them of any personal responsibility for exercising their own privilege.
In Brown’s case, the victim of his aggression was a young black woman. What message do we send if we essentially claim that he has done nothing wrong? In protecting a young black man, we would have declared open season on young black women and their bodies.
Fighting against racism is crucial, but fighting all forms of oppression is necessary to fight against racism. Going forward, we can’t protect Brown and others like him while sacrificing other members of our community. While he represents a dream of so many, his story should warn of the potential pitfalls and be a call for us to address our internal issues as a community, not push them aside in the name of unity.