52 thoughts on “#FAME: On C.Breezy’s 12,000 Fans”

1. should be drunkfeminist. dude has moved on and so has the rest of the world. Obama killing innocent women and babies in Libya, where’s the crunk? hmmm, maybe he too “looks nice” and many women too are, as you say, “shortsighted” in their allegiances.

   1. Clearly this is the only post you’ve read on the site, or you wouldn’t accuse us of shortsightedness or failure to address global issues. If you’re interested do a search. If not, your loss.

      Peace. Crunktastic.

2. man i’m sooooooooo tired of hearing about chris brown because the 1st thing that comes up is that fuckin’ beatdown he gave rhianna. dude gave her a serious raccoon makeover by dotting her eyes. while this happened in 2009 michael phelps was being scrutinized for a nearly-career damaging photo of him taking a bong rip. instantly just like that the focus is off him and on chris brown. michael phelps still had his speedo contract and kellog’s terminated their contract with him by the end of february. when word of chris brown’s assault spread like wildfire doublemint gum terminated his contract IMMEDIATELY. just like that his commercial wasn’t seen on television. not only that his songs and videos were non-existent. 2 1/2 years later he’s still having that monkey on his back and hasn’t fully recovered his humanity or self-image because he’s constantly doing stupid shit. his album isn’t that bad but instead of making the proper improvements he’s behaving like a jackass beefing on twitter with those oddball future losers and now transforming into a gangsta rapper(?) not to mention recently getting into trouble for allegedly using inflammatory language at a basketball game (this was reported by a tabloid so their credibility alone is suspect). meanwhile someone like charlie sheen who has fucked up OVER AND OVER again OD’ing on dope and constantly beating up hookers and porn stars slips into obscurity after being spoken about for a short while. not only that a sexual degenerate like r. kelly manages to STILL have a career after story after story of him having sex with underage girls surfaces in the news (1 thing i found hilarious was a old “showtime at the apollo” episode when he 1st came out as r. kelly and the public announcement and he entered the stage holding a sign that said “women 18 and over please come to the front”). what is it with chris “breezy” brown that makes people shove that shit in his face over and over and over again let alone make people bring that shit up? if simple-minded broads can give r. kelly a pass and guys can give dr. dre a pass then why discriminate against chris brown?

   1 more thing: any entertainer with the last name brown is DESTINED to fail:

   james

   bobby

   chris

   do the knowledge.

   1. In all due respect, I think you may have missed the premise on which this post is written, but Chris Brown is still popular. Furthermore, what the hell does Michael Phelps smoking marijuana have to do with Chris Brown beating Rihanna BRUTALLY? (emphasis on the Brute) If your intention is to make an argument about some particular racial bias, you should try comparing apples to apples and not a grape to a grapefruit. Furthermore, who gave R. Kelly or Dr. Dre a pass?… and what pass are you talking about?… a hall pass. Keep this in mind. We may forgive, but we will never forget. Let’s all remember the person who was brutalized and that person was not Chris Brown. In your words, Chris Brown did not receive a “fuckin’ beatdown” or “a serious raccoon makeover” complete with “dotted Is” (you feel me.).

      To sum up, I am pretty sick of people who never considered Chris Brown’s actions to warrant serious concern getting all exasperated because there are people willing to give the situation Chris Brown created the attention it deserves.

      Do the knowledge.

      1. you completely missed the point. michael phelps was caught on film smoking out of a bong. just like that EVERYBODY forgot that he did so and not only that he still kept his endorsements and got new ones like the subway commercial later that year (and yeah i was speaking on racial terms). as far as r, kelly and dr. dre i’m talking about THEIR FANS. even though they did what they did people still bought their albums and went to their concerts. i was boggled during the trial seeing how people STILL supported robert despite the fact he had evidence against him (i stopped supporting him when i found out he married alliyah back in ’94. i find it more than ironic she died in a plane crash and months later robert got into all this hott water for the exact same thing). you act like i was defending him but i wasn’t. if you read closely i said that he was causing his own problems and that he needs help but apparently he’s not getting it, instead he’s doing stupid shit like “tweefing” (twitter beefing) and trying to be a gangsta rapper. is this the kind of image you wanna emulate after getting in trouble not too long ago for domestic violence? NO. for some reason he’s devolving, not evolving. he had his chances with the new album and that comeback performance on the BET awards last summer and starring in a blockbuster feature last year but squandered it away being a dumb-ass. apparently all you saw was what you wanted to see, mainly me making tasteless jokes about how rhianna got brutally beat down. i agree that she’s no saint either and WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT CAR THAT NIGHT but that’s no excuse or pass for chris “breezy” brown. next time you wanna debate something make sure you properly read and process what’s in front of you. like i said i’m tired of hearing about this dude and his past in the same sentence. other people don’t get this type of scrutiny as severely as he does but then again they aren’t fuckin’ up as badly as him except for, as aforementioned, charlie sheen and he’s practically forgotten as of this moment.

3. I want to say that I dropped Dr. Dre a long time ago, as in, never listened; I dropped r.kelly in a similar fashion. Furthermore, I dropped snoop, mystikal, eminem and number of other performers who lyrics, speech or public presentation offended me (including sean puffy, p.diddy, diddy, p-whatever combs, who I dropped on his face). Chris Brown is a special case because I dropped his ass and never looked back. It is time that African American women (hyphen implied) stop supporting men who promote abuse. Period.

4. Interesting entry . Can’t say I didn’t see this one coming though-regarding Chris Brown and his fanbase.

   What I particularly do not,will not, and shall not ever care for, is the immediate welcoming of CB back into the fanbase’s arms promptly after the assault.

   I also couldn’t stand the accusations of people criticizing him or questioning him as being Anti Black Male. This is just a reflection of what goes on in many Black communities . Any criticism towards a Black male in the communities is not an Ok thing to do,and you will be accused of being a sellout for mentioning someone should be held accountable for their own actions. This goes to show you how much Black women are cared about (Rhianna is Black,afterall). Black men are ultimately protected by the community ,at the expense of Black women. What you witnessed with this is a little taste of how many Black women will stand up for Black men who have committed harmful actions towards another Black women. I too , believe in protecting Black men, but not when they’re “wrong as sin”,and most certainly not at the expense of Black women.

   I personally think Chris Brown will not take on that challenge to raise awareness due to his behavior right after ,and long after the assault. In past interviews of this year ,even on the GMA show he sounded thoughtless when Robin Roberts asked him about Chris Brown’s “Incident”. He has a lot of changing to do but it seems like he’s resisting,blame shifting-and his fans enable him to continue to behave the way he does and validate his anti self-critical beliefs regarding the “incident”. It was “Not a big deal.”,as he said on GMA. In short I don’t think he’s done the work based on his past comments ,including the ones this year.

   There’s not much I can do about him, but I can try to teach the young women in my life who are Black that no man who harms a woman is worthy of her praise and money. My niece turned off the TV when she saw his face, I think I’m off to a good start.

   1. you know what? i know i’m gonna get heat for this and i don’t care because i know how people are these days, only seeing what they wanna see and believing what they wanna believe. what chris brown did was FUCKED UP, there’s no denying that. he also is not learning from his past experience as well, something else i keep reiterating but SOMEBODY on here glossed over that point in my 1st post. what i’m scratching my head on is when women get assaulted it’s a heinous crime but when it happens to men it’s a laugh riot ala “norbit”. i found out originally when eddie murphy did the movie stephen spielberg (or whoever the producer was) didn’t like it because it was “too dark” so they had to lighten it up. maybe because women are seen as the “weaker sex” so they get a pass while men are supposed to be more domineering and strong so they don’t. when lorraina bobbit chopped her husband’s dick off i didn’t hear anybody feeling sympathy for him but men, and they were few and far in between. women rejoiced like a muthafucka. i mean i have to wonder if dude was raping her like she testified for her to commit such an extreme act (and my money is on that he did) but making jokes and taunting the man didn’t help, he still got the chop-chop treatment. after hearing he went into porn starring in a movie called “frankenpenis” i lost even MORE respect for him. all credibility about his ex-wife being crazy went out the window, dude was more than likely a womanizer and rapist.

      then there was that latina woman in texas who was married to that dentist that was cheating on here with his secretary or whoever that was. this lady did EVERYTHING to please her husband: got plastic surgery (breast augmentation), tried to be a better lover, kept the house clean and food on the stove cooked and ready to be eaten while he’s off somewhere beating his secret lover’s cheeks and blowing her gums out. the min she found out she drives to his place of work WITH the man’s daughter in the car and sees red when she spots him in the parking lot and runs over him not 1nce, not 2wice but 3 times (2 1/2 if you wanna be technical about it). now her dumb-ass is in prison for this (and we ALL KNOW how the judicial system in texas is about convicting blacks, latinos and women) and women were making jokes and 1nce again dancing in the streets over this. wrong is wrong no matter who the person is or what gender they are or how famous they are. if it’s wrong for chris brown to beat a woman up so severely it’s equally as wrong for a woman to attack a man because they’re upset on how they’re treated no matter what the circumstances. lorraina bobbit should’ve called the police the 1st time she was raped by her husband and this woman should’ve filed for divorce the min she found out her husband was cheating on her and took everything he had if not half depending on if there was a pre-nup. stop giving passes just because they’re the same sex as you. this battle of the sexes really needs to stop if men and women are gonna come to a agreement or some sort of common groud.

5. i so do love how the unity of the black community suddenly become an issue when black women say hey this sexism misogyny kyriarchy systemic *hatred* of black women *specifically* HURTS US. but it’s never the sexism misogyny kyriarchy systemic hatred of black women that’s a threat to unity.

   i.e. everyone being mad that Rihanna shot ol boy in her video, but not that he raped her.

   see also: chris brown, odd future, the reaction to Ntozake Shage’s “For Colored Girls” and Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” when they first came out.

   1. look i was the 1st to say that “love the way you lie” video was disturbing. what kind of song is that to perform let alone release a video about domestic violence when she was a victim of it? sounds like mixed messages to me. it’s more like she was condoning that sort of behavior instead of condemning it. also i’m tired of people making domestic violence a “issue in the black community”. it’s a GENDER ISSUE. ALL WOMEN FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE ARE ABUSED BY THEIR SIGNIFICANT OTHER, NOT JUST BLACK WOMEN. get off that stupid shit already, it’s a waste of energy. unity won’t start unless both sexes come to an agreement and learn to co-exist with respect and dignity for BOTH parties as aforementioned. and i KNOW you didn’t mention “the color purple” or the movie adaption of that choreoplay “for colored girls”, those movies were ALL ABOUT male bashing.

      CRUNKTASTIC HERE: LAST SECTION OF THIS COMMENT DELETED DUE TO RAMPANT HOMOPHOBIA!!!! BOOT-CHEESE, this is your last warning about the homophobic statements. Future comments of that nature will be deleted in their entirety with no explanation!

      1. your trolling bores me. sincerely.

      2. oooooh a feminist admitting she’s bored with the male perspective, that’s so original. you sure told me.

         and there’s nothing homophobic about the truth. it is what it is.

      3. i really want to know what it is exactly that’s is so enraging about black women, queer people, speaking their truth. and this isn’t directed at the troll, but his actions are a prime example. like, how kyriarchy has shaped it so that folks have an almost pathological need to silence us, invalidate our lives and our experiences. b/c i see that operating re: chris brown and rihanna. i have heard so many folks twist themselves up in logical knots excusing what he did, only to untwist/retwist themselves to condemn rihanna’s expression of rage/hurt etc. or rather, we can express rage, as long as it’s righteous, i.e. directed at white folks or other black women, i.e. not at black men.

         it reminds me of that line from For Colored Girls: “i do ya like i do ya cause u thot ya could take it, now i’m sorry”

         in terms of young black women, i was talking to Blackamazon earlier and she (as usual) said something that made me stop and think: who else do black girls love to have that will admit to loving them back? like you said in the article, women will put up with some shit if the person dishing it loves/”loves” them. where else in the mainstream but in hip hop and r&b do you see young black folk talking about love, about loving each other? where else and who else will black women be depicted as something to love? of course it’s a conditional love, and i personally wouldn’t even call it love, but when it’s all that you see, and when everyone else is telling you you’re unlovable? i can understand why someone would fight for that.

         but it’s times like these that the intergenerational work done by folks like Alexis becomes so important. because quite frankly we can’t figure out What To Do without talking to and being led by those 12,000 girls. only they know what they face, where they’re at and what they need. it’s definitely about creating viable alternatives, but we gotta start by, as y’all have said in the past, meeting them where they’re at and going from there.

         #TeamTrustBlackWomen

      4. Ladies and gentleman, blame shifting wall of text number one, “What about The Men” argument, all folded up into a whole lot of nothing.

         You keep mentioning everybody else and their crimes or sins which is why you’re getting seen as a Stan. You criticize Chris Brown yourself yet you want everyone else to leave him alone.

         If you’re tired of reading about this then don’t let the door hit you on the way out. No one’s forcing you to read about this.

         You reek of being an MRA. I applaud the blogger’s high level of tolerance. Putting forth the reality of what our patriarchal society puts us through is labeled as “male bashing”. Sorry if the truth of the lives of many women, hurts you. Here’s a tissue for your issues.

         As far as I see it, Black women, even if they do disrespect some Black men (not all Black women do this, by the way), they give you immediate ,unquestioned fullstop SUPPORT whenever they believe you are facing precise discrimination based on race. However, when it comes to when Black women are harmed ,thumbs and fingers get to twiddling. But I digress.This is a volcano waiting to erupt. Kudos to so treu for being,so true.lol

   2. @icylatelady haha thanks. i try not to argue with bigots, it’s just a waste of energy and time. but yes to what you said about how folks will rally around black men (for example, the Jena 6) and not do the same for black women (for example, Dunbar Village – al sharpton and the NAACP actually initially supported the rapists). it really goes back to the whole “all of the blacks are men and all of the white are women” thing (which is the name of a groundbreaking anthology btw), as well as the fact that folks are rewarded for perpetuating violence against women generally and black women specifically. and as long as getting paid is what’s most valued these things will be a problem.

6. When Christian Bale comes out with the next Batman installment I want to see the outrage on display.

7. As far as CB goes my feeling on Chris are MY feelings I have no interest in being a part of some backlash movement for one thing people like to pick and chose they go after. But to me a “mistake” would have been hitting her once. I can appreciate his talent but he not my boy anymore.

8. enraging? now you making it seem like i’m threatened by black women and homosexuals. you have it ALL MIXED up. i’ve said my peace and if i say anymore i’ll be repeating myself. i don’t have to say anymore because you just conditioned yourself into thinking that you’re right along with your ilk. fuckin’ pathetic.

   all i will say before parting is this: since you “feminists” seem to act like men are the enemy and shit i would recommend you read prof. angela y. davis’s “women, race, and class” to see where you stand in the feminist movement. 1nce you read that you’ll see how much time you’re wasting on this bullshit you’re spewing. 1 look at the woman’s suffrage movement will prove this. why do you think sista davis came up with an alternative to feminism called “womanism”? ANYBODY can be feminine, plenty of effeminate gay men and trannies have proven this point. it takes ALOT more to be a woman, remember that.

   and 1 more thing…………..

   GET OFF MY DICK.

   1. How you were allowed to keep spewing your moronic, vapid, insipid, blathering diatribes Boot Cheese (what an apt name) is perplexing. Just from your assault on all the tenets of proper grammar, one could tell that you weren’t working with a full box of crayons. This discussion is ABOVE your “brain” grade. I don’t say that because I disagree with you. I say that because it’s patently clear that you simply DO NOT understand. Leave it alone.

9. For the record, Angela Davis didn’t come up with womanism. Since you’re so big on facts, at least get them straight.

   1. well whatever the case is she advocated it in her book. i assume you’ve read it for you to correct me. if you haven’t then read it. i haven’t read it in over 20 yrs. and i remember some of the most important points of the book so forgive me for making 1 mistake but i know you won’t because i’m a MAN.

10. just like i thought, you “practical feminists” got it ALL WRONG. when i say people should leave him be i mean stop talking about his ass. i could care less what stupid shit he’s doing next and neither should anybody else but of course the mere mention of his name gets your blood boiling and the male bash-o-rama begins. despite what you think i have PLENTY of respect for women, it’s just that i see too many of you embittered black women always talking shit about black men and it gets HELLA TIRED. i’m not like every other black man so i shouldn’t get the shitty treatment from you ignorant self-hating broads let alone all that emotional baggage. the “niggaz ain’t shit” excuse is as tired and old as the “bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks” mantra, all it does is create friction between the sexes as i’ve mentioned already (didn’t i say i wasn’t gonna repeat myself? you ladies come off educated but can’t read between the lines for shit). i’m beginning to see the mob mentality approach up in here from you broads and it’s sad as hell. i say rhianna is just as guilty coming out with songs like “love the way you lie” which glamorizes domestic violence and you STILL wanna blame chris brown for that like she’s suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome or some shit. fuck that. what about the STRONG women that empowered themselves and escaped those situations, like that one lady jennifer lopez portrayed in that “enough” movie several years back, the one who was getting beat down by her husband on some “HULK SMASH!!!!”-type shit? or more accurately how about tina turner? ike was a REAL asshole to her, dude not only beat and terrorized but raped her 2wice. if it wasn’t for a friend introducing her to Buddhism which allowed her to become empowered and confident she’d probably still be getting abused by him until the day he died. she fought back and left and didn’t even want the money in the divorce, just the name she was given. but i didn’t see these women or others mentioned in this article as shining examples of who women should admire and look up to, just more male-bashing that feminists (esp. BLACK ones) love to do, it’s like your national pastime.

    i’ve given you enough jewels, it’s up to you to do something with them or ignore them like all the other points i’ve made.

11. Yes, I’m definitely feeling this post. I follow CB and other popular entertainers on twitter and have become increasingly concerned about his well-being and the trajectory he is on. This post touches on what may go overlooked in some of the critique – we, or at least I, do want him to to live. I just hope it is in a way that is healthy and productive for him and those that he influences.

12. I Love this post!! I dont understand why people continue to support this man, not only is he sexist but very homophobic. His actions continue to reinforce homophobia in the black community. I find myself purposely commenting on BET blogs whenever they have on article on CB (which is like everyday) BET and CB are both poisons to the black community, particularly for women of color, and I cannot wait for the world to realize this! It saddens me how women continue to justify his actions, he is a grown man and should be held accountable for all his mistakes.

13. I consider myself a feminist and I don’t support men who abuse women, but the treatment of Chris Brown throughout this ordeal has always left a funny taste in my mouth. 1. I saw the pics just like everybody else and brutal just doesn’t come to mind, I’m sorry. I’ve seen chicks beat up worse in grade school. 2. I find it funny that while Rihanna admitted to smashing a glass in her younger brothers face during a fight and like Chris was raised in an environment permeated by domestic violence, there are no open letters or blog posts questioning her accountability, her choices, her wounds, her state of mind, whether or not she has done the proper work to make sure that she also doesn’t find herself at the opposite end of a man’s fists. This is 2011, I know women who will challenge their men to a duel any time, any place and win too. In my opinion violence between the sexes is a different beast than it was in the 40’s and 50’s when women were getting socked up because dinner was two minutes late.

    1. FINALLY we got a couple women with some brains on here! i almost forgot about rhianna smashing her brother over the head with a glass during a family dispute so trying to make her out to be a angel isn’t gonna work with me, she’s just as guilty as anybody else. there’s now way she was a innocent party in that incident but at the same time I’M NOT CONDONING IT. all i’m saying is pick and choose your battles and some of your “sistahs” on this site are making some stupid choices and comments based on knee-jerk reactions. i also find it funny as FUCK that they call me a bigot but all they do is bash black men and whyte women from what i’ve read. take a look in the mirror before making stupid remarks and passing judgment on people. people who live in glass houses……………..well you know the rest

    2. 1. Considering yourself a feminist and actually being a feminist are two different things. Feminism is not an identity you get to pick up and pick on without doing any of the intellectual work or believing that women are humans that deserve to be treated that way.
       2. Anytime violence is committed against a woman is wrong. She could be a prostitute, have slept with everyone on the New York Yankees, or be hooked on drugs. She could have been late serving dinner or argumentative or any number of things. None of this justifies beating her, whether she challenges her man to a duel or not. Of course men are battered by their male or female partners. But right now we are talking about a man who beat a woman and left her battered while having very few marks on himself, if any.
       3. Finally, in 2011,1534, or 1955, a fist to a face is a fist to a face. I’ve never read a historical record that said that it hurt more to be physically abused during the civil rights period. Just saying.

       1. LD- Everything you said. Brilliant. Especially this:

          “in 2011,1534, or 1955, a fist to a face is a fist to a face. I’ve never read a historical record that said that it hurt more to be physically abused during the civil rights period.”

          Well, especially everything you said.

          This conversation has gotten so far from what the original post was…the trolls have turned it into “You are all fake feminists and we don’t know what happened in that car, it was two years ago so leave “C Breezy [wtf?] alone…” I’m so sick of the conversation turning to that any time someone tries to have a conversation about this issue. Clearly, “C. Breezy” hasn’t made great strides, and he will never have to as long as he has millions of young female fans who are quick to act as domestic violence apologists.

14. Pingback: LYNS » #FAME: On C.Breezy’s 12,000 Fans

15. Can you let this guy alone……I think we have a lot of haters that keep bring the same ol story over and over………can we say something positive…HE’S GREAT !!!! that’s all to it!
    They did the same thing to Michael….just harasse him until he died…then all the haters kept dancing to his music, copying his steps, trying to be like Mike…but when he was alive……he could not even perform in the USA in peace because of the Haters…..Can you leave CHRIS alone!!!….Thank you!

    1. To your claim that we’re simply …hating, I point you to this recent post from CF Crunkadelic.

       http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2011/07/11/hateration-holleration/

       Peace.

16. There were closer to 20,000 fans. Many were white and asian teens and
    adults.  Many white adults had their kids on their shoulders. On line were white girls dressed like grunge rock fans. There was also a group of white people ages 15-20 at the event whose mothers waited at a local hotel and came to check in on them through the night repeatedly. White PARENTS, so how can you make this a black woman thing or black girls? There were many Asian people in the crowd, many males straight and gay in the audience , and there were latinos. I saw middle eastern, and yes I did see black people as well. I was one.

    I think it’s naive to assume that supporting Chris Brown’s appearances
    and performances is preventing him from being a better person.  Seeing
    the throng of fans brought tears to his mothers eyes as her and Chris
    Brown looked out into the crowd. He was appreciative and overwhelmed.
    He wasn’t at home turning to drinking and drugs because someone
    tweeted how bad they wanted him dead.  He didn’t get mad at the
    comments and take it out on his computer, phone,tv, or girlfriend.  He
    went on stage and performed for a national audience of viewers and a
    crowd of about 20,000 and people all the way in the back who couldn’t
    even tell what color he was wearing cried when his voice erupted
    because they were in the same space as Chris Brown.

    He started with the positive and well loved song “Forever”, the song
    made for a bubblegum commericial and  used in weddings in the midwest.
    That’s the Chris Brown MEN, WOMEN, and CHILDREN were supporting.
    They were not encouraging him to go on stage and speak down to them or
    of his past girl or condone violence against women, they were there to
    watch him dance.

    His lack of therapy is not OUR issue as long as he’s improving before our eyes. There’s an assumption that everyone who supports him now as always supported him. Many fans are just now coming around almost three years later. They didn’t buy his cd. They argued against him to friends in support of him, and they turned off the television disgusted by his presence. But then they saw his domestic violence certificate, they heard him making music like “Beautiful People”, they watched him break down in tears and real snot during his performance tribute to Michael Jackson at the BET awards, they head him make songs like “Beautiful People”, and read books to children and continue his work with the charity for developmentally disabled. They learned he has maintained a near 1 year relationship with a female and haven’t heard a peep about fighting or assault from the many people who see them out or how non-industry friends who might snitch for a pay up. They watched the courtroom clips of the judge giving him glowing remarks for his unbelievable and rare progress. That is what his fans, supporters, and “team breezy” are supporting.

    It’s not like he hasn’t been bashed, blacklisted, wished death upon, etc. It’s not like he hasn’t reflected through music, performance , and interviews no matter how inarticulate he may have been in some of them. He’s still on probation. He still can’t vote….

    He has GROWN tremendously. I’m not ignoring the window busting, but anger management teaches people to avert their anger. He didn’t harm a single person. He sat in that interview for 5 minutes, performed a song and dance calmly and in precision , and then had his reaction. That is progress from someone who physically assaulted his girlfriend.

    Of the 15,000 + in that crowd probability proves that there are assault victims, rape victims, people who have been tortured, people who have been gay bashed and more in that crowd and they supported Chris Brown through the forgiveness they’ve acquired for him. They’re showing up for his show not his court date proving they support the artist. But it doesn’t mean they did the whole time.

    R.Kelly and Dr.Dre and those people barely acknowledged any wrongdoing and have not grown from boys to men like Chris Brown has. Chris Brown has a target on their back from media who has run out of thugs to come down on. Fox News for one calls him a controversial rapper. And we jump behind them as black women as if they support our values and morals when they break this boy’s spirit.

    That’s criminal to me, in three years perhaps I’ll look past it.

    1. Clearly we have different standards. Throwing a chair through a window is not progress on one’s anger, no matter how much we wish it was. Based upon what you suggest, how do we know he has grown? Because he hasn’t beaten anyone else that we know about? I’d say the angry homophobic twitter rants of late, the slightly misogynistic tone that his lyrics have taken on, and his chair throwing suggest the opposite of what you’ve said.

       It’s also ironic that a piece which calls for him to get help and be honest about that help is seen as a move to collude with obvious racists like those on Fox News and “break this boy’s spirit.” I’m come from a family of young men and the standard is the same for them. If you hit people and you don’t get help to change, you don’t get a pass. No matter how much I care for your spirit.

       I care about black boys. But I care about Black women and girls more, and this because I know that someone needs to care about all us Black women and girls who often care more for Black boys than we do for ourselves –and in doing so, show up at concerts making flimsy excuses about how said person has changed even though we have little proof. Plenty of abusive folks are charmers when they’re aren’t being angry and violent. Doesn’t mean they’ve solved the problem. When it comes to Black women, I think we have collective battered woman syndrome. We keep going back thinking that someone has changed even though their version of “changing” is getting mad and throwing chairs when asked about the changes they’ve made.

       But do you, Sis. If your explanations work for you, so be it.

       1. here you go with your 1-track minds defending a broad who’s capable of even more violent behavior than the man you’re attacking. stop playing the devil’s advocate here and being 1-sided. black women aren’t the only women who have suffered abuse at the hands of a man so stop that shit. it’s getting really fuckin’ old hearing this same stupid argument from you ladies, it’s like a broken record someone forgot to remove and replace.

       2. Throwing a chair is a progression from physical, impulsive direct assault. Yes. It’s still very bad but maybe you don’t understand the word progress.

          I care about black women and girls too. Wanting what you think is best for Chris Brown is not helping the Nixmary Brown’s of the world. It’s complaint without action.

          Women are likely to commit crimes and I have to defend a woman first because she has a vagina? Women serial killers and abusers have vaginas too and some women are just wrong.

          How is Chris Brown classified as an abuser from a solitary incident? That’s the issue with these articles grouping him with the man who beats his wife every night if his food isn’t the right temperature.

          This was a man who by all accounts didn’t hit his girlfriend back until that night. Of course if she was demeaning to him in public and private and placed her hands on him, he should’ve left. He should’ve used restraint not a defensive attack, but he didn’t. That doesn’t make him Ike Turner as people say jokingly as if a joke should ever come up in the topic of domestic violence.

          The one-sidedness in regards to this case is infantilizing. Let’s go on facts alone. Rihanna came from the past of being a fighter. She’s bragged on it openly, and it’s no secret about her bashing her little brother’s head in, so harshly that he had to go to the Emergency Room. Does this mean I want my fellow black sister to be seen as less then the victim she is? No, but if we’re going to talk about the help ‘he’s not getting’ according to no fact based opinion then let’s discuss that they were a volatile couple but from child abuse who both need help.

          I don’t justify what he did or what she did.
          I didn’t suggest that people behind this piece intentionally conspire with racist media, but whose agenda are you helping when you write blogs implying that black women and girls are lost at the hands of black men. You act as if this young man is the thug they call him when you add notes about color and gender to the article when it doesn’t even make sense too. Again, that audience was heavily white, asian, and male. Yet I come across your article sighting the black females lost. That is frustrating.

          You say his music has lyrically taken a change but it’s not different from what Trey Songz or Lloyd are singing about. I’m not saying he doesn’t come off misogynistic, but was that to be cured thought the prison sentence he didn’t receive. Him growing through his anger and growing through being another poorly educated urban black male shouldn’t be so closely linked. Him not hitting another person IS positive. If he were hitting people then that’d be two points for your side, ‘sis’, but the lack of bad is better then the proof of foulness. It just is. Anger management is about controlling your anger and cooling down. He obviously practiced what steps he had to react so quickly but is he “fixed” all the way no, he just reacted slower. Time will help him not react at all, not criticism.

       3. We disagree about what “progress” means. We disagree about whether he should be called an abuser. We disagree about the level of accountability that Rihanna versus Chris should have. We disagree when it comes to the notion that criticizing someone means that you don’t support or love them. We disagree about the notion that talking about issues which affect black communities in some way acts as a form of airing racial dirty linen to conservative media, who frankly don’t care if we do or don’t talk. They’ll exploit either way, so fuck ’em. And we disagree about whether race and gender matter in this conversation.

          When domestic violence is one of the top two killers of young black women ages 15-34 (the other being AIDS, largely wrought at the hands of heterosexual relationships with presumed Black male partners), then I say that, however multiracial the audience was or widespread the problem of domestic violence, it is having a particularly insidious impact on the lives of young Black women and girls, which means that race and gender of the audience members does in fact matter. Furthermore, I’m not uniquely criticizing Breezy. Hence my references to Dre and R. Kelly. The piece isn’t about them because it’s 2011 and we don’t write about events that happened 10 years ago or 20 years ago extensively unless they have some timely relevance. They, however, were placed in the piece to draw attention to the fact that Breezy is in fact only the latest iteration of a long-standing problem of apologizing and excusing bad behavior from black men.

          Thus, I don’t have to rehash the Chris/RiRi debate. The piece is actually not about that. The piece is about how we rehabiilitate men with a history of violence, which begins in my estimation with not glossing over what they did. 12,000 chicks showing up to support looks like serious gloss to me. It’s about how we think as women and girls about men who have committed acts of violence against us. It’s about whether we let them off the hook too easily because we think society is out to get black men. It’s about whether we blame ourselves like abused and battered women tend to do rather than considering that Black men are strong enough to be held accountable. It’s about the fact that we can’t say we care about women and girls and then spend five hundred words defending everyone but black women and girls…etc. It’s about shifting the focus. So yes, the conversation can include a discussion on female towards male violence. But that discussion can’t dominate, any more than a discussion of racism should be dominated by claims from white folks that they are victims of reverse discrimination. And refusing to talk about the serious problem of Black male domestic violence on the grounds that Black women are violent too is tantamount to the whack-ass racial argument I just mentioned.

          So in this piece, I (unapologetically) use Chris Brown’s situation as a point of entry into a larger conversation about a very real issue in our communities, again backed up by the statistics which tell us that it’s killing us. It’s not killing black men en masse, but it is killing us. And the thing is, the stuff that’s killing black men (i.e. violence and drugs)–we talk copiously about that. But as soon as we are faced with what’s taking out black women we refuse to talk about that, or we cop out by saying that Chris Brown’s incident isn’t a valid point of entry into the larger discussion. And to me that’s whack and again it’s a cop out. Period.

    2. The point of the post is not that Brown is a horrific person and hasn’t grown at all, but that someone’s talent or niceness does not absolve him from needing to be held accountable for his actions. There weren’t only Black women there but this is a blog that specifically deals with issues pertinent to Black women.

       1. @ crunktastic
          Researchers found that women are far more likely to instigate nonreciprocal violence then men at 70 %. Going back to how much more likely it was (mixed with her violent history) for her to be the abuser, so apply your domestic violence statistics both ways. I understand 12,000 females supporting someone you see as some type of women beating monster is hard, but that’s not him. He was not the aggressor of their relationship, so she IS relevant to the conversation. I read and watched everything thing related to their case. She was clearly a perpetuator of long term emotional abuse.
          “oh, he’s a guy, he can take it. He should’ve ended the relationship. He was 18 , she was a few years older but they were both adults how could SHE control him?”, Is that the response you’d give at the thought that although MOST of the time women are harmed, sometimes it’s the man. We have to ignore that to help women?

          If you’re going to “treat” or suggest treatment for Chris Brown you can’t misdiagnose him. They had a fight. She was the controlling one (i e. domestic violence) of the relationship. No one should hit anyone . And I completely agree that the discussion should be held, but not on HIS back. His mother is that woman who was beat routinely for not opening a window, making a meal, and his stepfather justified it saying he was ‘discipline her’

          You said black men are strong enough to take it, but black women aren’t. As a victim she should be in therapy , but she’s on twitter telling her fans to ‘hoe it up’ and we’re going to make her offender the scapegoat for abusers out there beating their girlfriend, wives, and children to a pulp, tying to them heaters, and burning them with cigarette holes?

          You easily welcome him into the conversation of abuser for the help he needs. One assault doesn’t make him an active abuser. As someone involved with an urban emergency room I’m disgusted that she’s the poster child for victims. I don’t like to make it him/her thing, but he does something good and she does something wrong yet we use him to go into this? Know what battles to ‘fight’. Throwing your agenda at the SAME time as scapegoat media does support them. You didn’t realize it was “Chris Brown is a controversial rapper” week? I’m not saying that we have to hide our dirty laundry but Chris Brown is not the biggest issue in the black community and while domestic violence is a major issue, it does not have to be on his shoulders. It’s just distracting because people will never see this case the same way.

          You don’t even know their situation. He is a one time offender and HAS received counseling, so the rhetoric of separate (and more fragile), but equal as it relates to DV… with his name is wack.

          Nice of you to bring profanity into this discussion. Watch that verbal abuse though, you know, because I’m a woman.

17. Everybody, Boot-cheese-3000 is a TROLL. Do not feed him.

    And, Boot, I know you’ll see this, so I may as well address you. Do you remember reading this part of the post?:

    “But the question I’m asking is not about whether Chris should be forgiven, whether he should continue to have a career, whether he should be allowed to move on. The answer to all those questions– for me anyway– is “yes.” I don’t think a person’s entire future should be determined by the terrible choices they made in late adolescence.

    What I worry about is whether Chris has done the work (seen the therapists, grappled with his own hurt and anger about his past as a childhood survivor of domestic violence) to make sure that he doesn’t end up in the same situation again. My feminism permits me to care (in many ways demands that I care) about the emotional lives of men, particularly young Black men.”

    I hope you can understand the POINT of her post then. Because all of your responses weren’t even in the same vein. Try again!

    1. yeah SURE they wern’t. keep believing what you wanna believe. you started this bullshit the min you wrote this dumb blog about chris brown, because you broads still can’t get over it and act like he’s the fuckin’ ambassador of black men in amerikkka. it’s bad enough that whyte amerikka, for the most part, does this sort of shit to us (holding us accountable in the sense that if 1 black person fucks up it reflects upon the ENTIRE race) but to have BLACK WOMEN do this is even worse. this is what I was speaking about in one of my posts that obviously gone over your measly heads, that if there’s gonna be any unity (in this case black unity since you seem to focus on that more than anything) then we as people, that’s men and women, are gonna have to make some open dialogue and stop the petty finger-pointing. it’s childish and above us as so-called mature adults. and listen to what this West Indian brother below me is saying, he’s making some valid points and mentioned something that has crossed my mind during this war of the words. chris brown is like all celebrities, constantly in the public eye and being scrutinized with a freakin’ microscope. any false move he makes will be sensationalized and blown out of proportion. as a young man he hasn’t been able to process everything that has happened to him (yes teenagers maybe “young adults” but they’re still children, they still need room to grow as they aren’t capable of processing fully the consequences of their actions and decisions) and doesn’t know how to cope with it. if he had taken a REAL break from the world for a year or 2 and THEN came back making music he might’ve been alright but apparently that didn’t happen. i think he should take more time out seeing that he’s a adult now but still young enough to save himself from himself. now you can continue to ignore what i typed and give your readers more horseshit you call objective journalism, or blogging which isn’t journalism anyways.

       1. I didn’t write the post, I’m just a reader/commenter. BUT..
          I agree that yes, white people do tend to have this “one bad apple spoils the bunch” perspective, but I don’t think that’s at all the same thing with black women as it pertains to black men.
          I also agree that Chris is young, immature, and most def should have given himself more time to reflect/grow and heal his own wounds before returning back to the spotlight. As I told Evan below me, that is much of the reason he made his choice in Feb 2009. However, he should know now that he has no excuse.
          And who’s finger-pointing? No one’s blaming Chris for anything he didn’t already admit to. Why is this post not open dialogue? Why is demanding that Chris straighten up a bad thing? Just like crunktastic wrote, “when we challenge Chris not to return to business as usual or suggest that he use his F.A.M.E. as a platform to raise the consciousness of his dedicated fans (since they are his everything,) we sound like heartless haters.”
          We’re not “hating” on Chris. Part of being a black feminist is to care about the lives of black males. We also need to care about our lives as black women, for all the young women of color who showed up to support a boy who has not done the work he needs to do. Much of the issue here is that black women continue to let this slide.

       2. All future comments from Boot-Cheese-3000 will not be posted.

18. Being a man myself, I wonder why is it that this young man is constantly on the mind of women who are trying to use him as a scapegoat to get their unrealistic views across. Not that I advocate it, but men have been doing outlandish things to women for a long time and to try and put on this on the shoulders of Chris Brown is just wrong. Has it been lost on all of you on a soapbox that this youth is a young man? I think it should be taken into account that for one he is young and two. He is living in the public view which is probably a heavy burden to bare as it is now. I don’t think Chris mental level is able to sustain this constant harassment much longer. I’m wondering if he does something like commit suicide will all the people writing about him now would be willing to take a part of the blame for him not being able to deal with this much longer?

19. Not one of these people blogging has taken into consideration that they are not licensed therapist and their personal opinions could send an unstable person over the edge. I feel bloggers should be held accountable for any damage they do to help a person do something to themselves when they can no longer handle the pressure of fame or negative press. Let the young man grow up and mature so that he can develop better coping skills and learn how to deal with his live.

    1. Evan,
       I think this blog, or others like it, are the least of Chris’s worries. He’s suffered worse criticism from other media, trust that! Yes, Chris is very much in the public eye–but he can move out of it. He chooses to continue with his career–that’s his choice–but it’s not anyone’s fault if he reads about himself on the internet.
       And the author isn’t advocating for Chris to solely heal the wounds of every DV victim! She’s not saying Chris himself should be the one to take responsibility of other mens’ actions, nor to transform into a Superhero to fight all domestic crimes. Yes, he IS a boy! And that itself is part of the reason he finds himself in this predicament.
       With all that being said, I can turn your two issues into a solution. One, Chris is rich and famous, and very visible. Two, he’s a young black male. Now, Chris can use his fame as a platform and his riches as a resource to make positive change, set a positive example for other young black males. He can see to it that he gets real help, and show that he’s truly trying to manage his anger and change into a better person. By that alone, he can impact the way young black people determine to be appropriate behavior in these situations. Black boys might be encouraged that much more to take accountability for their actions. Young black women might demand <that much more respect/responsibility from their counterparts.
       You see? He doesn’t have to be a “scapegoat”–just a positive influence. I really feel that’s the least he could do.

20. ok i get what you’re saying now. in the beginning it just seemed like some boo-hoo pity party shit, just more bitter black women bashing black men like we’re ALL abusive and you’re the weakest of all women on the planet. unless you haven’t noticed i’ve seen alot of young girls running the streets behaving like male thugs always talking about who they beat up or are gonna beat up. true enough domestic violence is like rape, it’s a issue that doesn’t get addressed as much just like other issues. what i was getting at was this is just beating a dead horse when you drag chris brown into the equation. as aforementioned he should’ve taken a break from the glitz and glamor, fame and fortune and shadowed himself from the blinking lights and flashing cameras because the world is always watching and waiting for you to fall and fail. i don’t know why but it’s just some sick fascination with human nature these days to see others topple from their position of power and fall from grace no matter how talented they are or how much good they seem to do. guess jealousy and envy has become a bigger sickness than i thought. i think we all can agree one 1 thing–the only person who can help chris brown IS chris brown, nobody else. he has to look at the man in the mirror and admit that he needs help and not the free ride he has as a entertainer. as i said this with this thing it works both ways, rhianna isn’t that innocent and has some skeletons in her closet that she hasn’t exposed for obvious reasons. i still believe 1 way for women to empower themselves besides talking about it is taking some self-defense classes so they won’t be viewed as the weaker sex, you ladies and alot stronger than you think so rely on that inner strength and do something about it. the days of using your feminine wiles to get over on men are completely over. yes it is encoded in men’s DNA to be the “hero” and save a damsel in distress but every 1nce in awhile let men you you can handle your biz by yourself and if things do get too overwhelming to the point that the situation needs a man’s touch you know you can always rely on SENOR FLY GUY!!!!!! 😀

21. well i figured i should drop this link here, it’s a poll on change.org about asking the FBI to rewrite their definition of rape since it’s outdated and caused more harm than good:

    http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-the-fbi-rape-is-rape?utm_medium=email&alert_id=WqIorhKQzm_mFPdyswLah&utm_source=action_alert

    if you want to make a blog about this so others can sign up for this go ahead, just as long as the message gets out there.

22. Pingback: Current Times 14 | this cage is worms.

23. Also, I wonder where the notion came from that women today do not get beaten for serving dinner late? Or that there is any reason better than another for beating women?

    1. It’s used as a point about women getting beat up routinely (a la dinner) . No one should ever be assaulted. In the 20/20 interview she lied as she had done nothing. We can’t teach people to provoke as we can’t teach woman to walk out naked. Should a women get beat or raped no, but an ounce of prevention can save a life. A woman can speak her mind, push someone away, but should someone punch another person ?

       It’s a sick world that we have to be more cautious because of someone else’s lack of control, but that is the society. I don’t accept it, per se, but I aware of it’s existence and equally aware of cause and effect.

       1. The context of the statement was that women today do not get beaten for serving dinner late these days the way they did in the 50s. Which is patently untrue. That is what I was responding to. Further, when we place the dialogue on rape and domestic violence in the context of what women can do to prevent it, we not only blame the victim but we don’t look at the fact that rape and DV are crimes of power. Look at the fact that rape is prevalent throughout the world, even in parts of the world where women dress “modestly.” The fact is that women in abusive relationship are beaten when they serve dinner late. They are beaten when they “mouth off.” They are beaten when they say “hi,” to the mailman. In truth, they are beaten because their partner wants to maintain power in the relationship. There is no reason other than that, and to ask women to “prevent” it is exactly why rape and DV are effectively legal in the US and throughout the world. Not only does the criminal justice system not take it seriously, but society affirms it by…going to Chris Brown concerts.

24. Thank you for this post, it’s nice to have a reminder that so concisely frames the reasons why it’s important to continue to interrogate the actions of public figures in the hopes of building a culture of accountability and education. In 2009, when the Chris Brown/Rihanna story first broke, I was teaching a high school journalism course where students were encouraged to bring in current events to share with the class. Many of the students in the course, particularly female students, wanted (and needed) to talk about Chris Brown and Rihanna — for them, it was a sad but necessary gateway into discussions about relationship violence. While I accept that some people are no longer interested in discussing Brown, I think it’s important to keep having these discussions in the interests of communicating the dual necessities of accountability and education.

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