By now, I don’t think I need to explain to you that Charles Ramsey is “famous.” Earlier this week, he gave a descriptive interview to an ABC affiliate in Cleveland after he assisted a woman who was screaming for help. That woman turned out to be a kidnapping victim Amanda Berry, who almost everyone believed to be dead.
Like Sweet Brown and before her, Antoine Dodson — both household names because of their respective spirited descriptions of tragedies — Ramsey quickly became a viral sensation and like them racked up interviews, for all the wrong reasons.
Ramsey has a receding hairline and either sports a perm or a blow out. He is missing teeth. His one-liners about how he was just chilling like Brotherman from Martin on the “fif” floor while he ate his McDonalds’ and once consumed ribs and listened to salsa music with the kidnapper next door had people in stitches, laughing at him.
His heroic actions as a rescuer (and his poignant observations on race relations) took second place to his “colorfulness.”
Backlash follows sudden fame
Overnight, he went from a dishwasher waiting on his next paycheck to one-on-one interviews with the likes of Anderson Cooper and the hosts of Good Morning America.
And the clock had begun ticking on his 15 minutes of fame.
Because we’ve all seen this happen before, many of us knew what was coming. With all eyes on and so much interest in Ramsey, it was only a matter of time before journalists and gossip outlets started digging into his background. A Facebook friend called it the day Ramsey’s interview broke: “His criminal background hits the Internet in 5, 4, 3, 2…”
From abuser to hero
Days later, The Smoking Gun revealed Ramsey had been arrested three times for domestic violence against his then-wife and served six months in jail. There’s no way around it. That’s horrible. However, it doesn’t take anything away from Ramsey’s heroic deed.
The purpose of jail is supposed to be equal parts punishment and rehabilitation, and apparently in the ten years since his last arrest, Ramsey’s become a better man. When he heard a woman’s screams coming from his neighbor’s house — something that may have happened in his own residence long ago — he believed there was a woman was being beaten.
He didn’t keep chewing away on his Big Mac without care. He got up, went next door, and broke into his neighbor’s home to rescue the woman inside.
“Those [domestic violence] incidents helped me become the man I am today,” Ramsey told TMZ. “[They] are the reason why I try to help the community as much as I can … Including those women.”
The power of redemption
He added, “If I had so much hatred for women, I would have minded my own business this week and walked away instead of risking my life to save someone else.”
If that isn’t a change of heart, I don’t know what is. Like all of us, Ramsey is imperfect, too. And while I don’t condone the mistakes of his past, they shouldn’t overshadow the good deed of the present.
Demetria L. Lucas is the author of “A Belle in Brooklyn: The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life” (Atria), in stores now. Follow her on Twitter @abelleinbk.