| Tracey "Zipporah" Johnson So uh, the results are in and Chris Brown's plea bargain deal has been stated in court and released in the press. What does one think about that? Well, let's first talk about what was decided: (1) Five years probation, (2) 180 days of hard labor, (3) basically a retraining order or what they call a stay away order within 50 and 10 feet from Rihanna for the balance of his probation (4) Domestic travel will be closely supervised and (5) Domestic Violence classes. Not to mention the public humiliation, character assassination, hate mail, loss of wages, and an unknown future within the music industry; I would say this was a rather stiff penalty. He is now a convicted felon whose rights to vote and to carry arms have been taken away from him and he will not be able to have these rights for five years. He just reached adulthood. The good thing is that he was able to participate in the most monumental election of our time but still having rights taken away from you is a hard pill to swallow.  Rihanna and Chris Brown I think that you can tell that I am sympathetic to Mr. Brown. And I am for a host of reasons. As someone who is a creative, passionate person I can relate to him. Prior to his relationship with the defendant he was at the peak of his career with tweens and women blasting his music, blowing up his myspace page and flocking to his concerts. We will never really know what happened that night between the two of them, even if they told it all the details would not be exposed and we don't need to know them. I have known people that have been involved in domestic violence situations in the home that have and are not experiencing this much punishment. Even though he isn't facing jail time he will definitely feel the consequence of his actions over the next five years. My take on what happened between them is that there was so much passion within their relationship that it went over the edge. There is a thin line between love and hate as the song says and in my experience in order to hate someone you had to have loved them first. One could care less about what someone does unless there is some type of passion there. Anger is another form of passion and Chris and Rihanna had that for one another. I for one don't think that the five-year stay away order was necessary and I don't think that they wanted it either but regardless it is what it is and they have now been sentenced to life without one another in it. Now back to the domestic violence comparison between the haves and the have nots: Most Men that have literally beaten their wives in an effort to take their lives have been remanded to a night in jail, anger management classes and domestic violence classes over a period of some years. Their travel was not limited, they are not required to stay away from the Woman they almost killed, they didn't even have to do hard labor and it wasn't their first offense!! So I think that this is an effort to show others that if they think to do the same thing this is what they can expect. Making an example out of Mr. Brown. I feel badly for him because now he has to potentially don those orange one-piece jumpsuits picking trash up on the highway but it sure beats wearing a jumpsuit in a small cell with an unwanted gay roommate for four years and eight months. As one who has traveled in music and television on a much smaller scale than Mr. Brown I can lightly relate to the limiting of his travel. It's part of his work, he has to travel in order to promote his work, engage his fans and conduct his performances. He is known world-wide so now his compensation is at stake. It was at stake when this happened but I believe that his fans are very forgiving and this is his first mistake, a big mistake made with an even bigger personality but a mistake none the less. I wonder in the months and years to come how his income will be impacted. Not knowing the details of this detail makes me think on whether these details will make him turn down engagements, thereby turning down money which is everyone right to earn a living. Will he be able to do international travel? If domestic travel is limited what does this mean for international travel? Hard labor, is this to show him that he is not above hard labor because what it seems like the work that he does is not hard?? Or is it that it is the complete anti-thesis of the work that he performs with the multi-million dollar riders, security, stylists etc. Is this to show that he is not above getting dirty? Not sure what that is supposed to prove, it is like amount to when you are little and your Mom wants you to sit in the thinking chair and think about what you did. That is what this is - but it beats thinking about what you did in a tiny dirty cell with those in opposite cells singing your songs, making kissing sounds at you, plotting your demise for damaging the weaker sex. All in all as harsh as this sentence may seem to me for a first time offense for a very talented, very handsome, very new to adulthood young Man, it beats the hell out of spending the newbie years of your adulthood behind bars. I am glad that he didn't have to go, it's bad enough that most of our black Men are in there. ~ b@peace |
