Abuse

Another athlete is in the news for abusing his wife. Most news people do not want to investigate the cause of this behavior because it gets them involved in race and that is enough to scare them away. Starting in the late 60’s and continuing untill today the problems of single mom’s was part of the war on poverty. These young women, most of whom did not finish high school, were abandoned by the fathers and left in many cases destitute. The government stepped in and said that any young mom with no visible means of support would qualify for a free apartment, medical care, food stamps, WIC, help with utility cost and other lesser benefits. This meant that they were self-supporting and did not need financial aid from the father. These young men reacted to this new independence by making it popular to mistreat these mothers which became known on the street as dissing. The more you dissed your woman the more manly you were perceived to be. Because this was happening most notably in the inner city areas that were predominately black the press stayed away. The number one killer of African-American females, ages 15 to 34, was homicide at the hands of an intimate partner or ex-partner. Bureau of Health Statistics, 1994, Sullivan and Rumptz, 1994. The African-American community experience domestic violence at greater levels than White Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos. (Rennison & Welchan, 2000, Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000) Black women comprise 8% of the US population, but account for 20% of the intimate partner homicide victims. (Homicide Reports, 1976-1999) Just one more example of the unintended consequences of good intentions.