Rihanna Will Testify Today... But Will We Listen?

My brain is completely fried right now trying to recover from a very successful Blogging While Brown conference, but apparently Rihanna is going to testify today at a preliminary hearing involving Chris Brown. The folks at The New Agenda Report did a post analyzing the media's coverage of her. Please stay on top of this and email me your thoughts if you would like to do a post.
Here is a portion of the post from The New Agenda:

Tonight, my thoughts are with Rihanna, who is scheduled to testify tomorrow morning at a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles against Chris Brown, charged with felony counts of assaulting her. It must take immense bravery for Rihanna to testify in the face of not only the hurdles that any abused woman faces, but also intense scrutiny from tone-deaf media. For example in the CNN Showbiz Tonight clip below, host AJ Hammer says:

I’d have to believe that she’d rather have this whole thing just kinda go away so she can get on with her life.

Really? Are you saying, AJ, that you believe she should just “get over it?” Pat LaLama then says:

They [the court] only care about the seriousness of the charge and whether he’s responsible, not whether she wants to blubber on the stand and talk about how she still loves him.

How sensitive. It got worse. Hammer read the LAPD statement:

[Rihanna] turned to face Brown and he punched her in the left eye with his right hand. He then drove away in the vehicle and continued to punch her in the face with his right hand while steering the vehicle with his left hand. The assault caused [Rihanna's] mouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter all over her clothing and the interior of the vehicle. Brown looked at [Rihanna] and stated, “I’m going to beat the s*** out of you when we get home! You wait and see!”

The reaction of Ben Widdicombe, Celebrity Editor of Stylist.com:

That is such a hard statement to hear read, isn’t it, when you imagine what happened to Rihanna that night.

Hard statement to hear? Poor Ben Widdecombe, to have to hear it read. How about what a horrific night it was for Rihanna to endure??? Read the rest at The New Agenda

I'll be asleep (I hope) and unplugged all day so I won't be able to keep up with the happenings, feel free to use this as an open thread for those of you already approved to comment. New commenters will have to wait until this evening for their to post unless you beg attorneymom to log in and start moderating since she has the ability to do so.  In addition, if some folks want to guest blog to follow the coverage of the trial, let me know and we can make that happen.

PPS. I'm far more likely to post an item is A) its relevant to my audience, which this is and B) if you make my life easier by already having your content ready to go, which they did. G'night. I mean Good morning.

Comments

[michael]

i just think the new agenda person is putting way too much into other people's mouths. maybe something got lost in tone or from not hearing the people myself, but from reading what was provided, i don't see how the media was being overly scrutinizing. the nonsense about how the media was implying the woman should "just get over it" ignores the actual statement being sympathetic to rhianna. is it so far fetched to think she wants this to be over and done with what with the fact she's begun dating already? the stuff about blubbering was a little off putting, but the end about how it was hard to even listen to the description wasn't an indictment of going through it, it was underscoring how much more torturous it must have been to endure just because the description itself was so terrible. yeesh.

[Naima]

he got a plea, no jail time. 5 years probabtion, community service, domestic violence counseling.

[jadia]

An article I read implied the Chris' community service and domestic violence classes may make it difficult for him to do his job. He gets no sympathy from me. I'm hesistant to go over to the celebrity blog sites. I don't have the patience to read about how Rhianna deserved it tonight.

[dowomenhit]

Would support for Rihanna change if it were found out that she hit Brown? How would you advise your son in preparation of a female slapping him in the back of his head while driving? Or perhaps mushing him in the face? I don't know what happened that night. Does anyone here know?

[RevMamaAfrika]

@dowomenhit, this is what we do know, and I'm also speaking as WORKING, COMMUNITY ORGANIZING, PUBLIC SPEAKING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ADVOCATE.

Domestic violence does indeed happen when a woman is the aggressor against a man, and of course when a man in the aggressor against a woman; also in the case of same gender couples. I've seen a little bit of all of that.

But regarding men's violence in this also sexist, patriarchal, homophobic society, men's violence against women is not only encouraged, it is also rewarded. Don't believe me, as Bishop Thomas "Hit Man" Weeks about Rev. Juanita Bynum.

What happened between Rihanna and Chris Brown is sad, but I'm thankful it was not worse. However many times Chris hit Rihanna, suppose she accidently hit her head and was left brain damagd or dead? He has received another chance and it's UP TO HIM NOT TO BLOW IT.

Lastly, Chris obviously also is not stupid; he pulled a Bishop Hit Man Weeks move by pleading guilty to FELONY ASSAULT so that Rihanna would not have to testify in open court, with all the bloody, ugly details of how he beat her. At that point, his career WOULD HAVE BEEN OVER! I think I've made my point, and please, call your local domestic violence hot line, shelter, etc., and get trained to be a volunteer, or at the very least, make a generous donation. :)

[Mr. Fath Mother]

What we do know is that if this was a your white celeb couple. Remember this was not an Ike & Tina turner man woman how many year love hate relationship! This is teen lovers young Black celebs in a white world of bling and champange - now another young Black man gets a felony - white media has a field day - black media piggy backs on white media and feel like they are journalists. Blacks cheer and whitefolks sit back and laugh! Remember your young sons and daughters! Black folks are harder on each other than white folks are on themselves! Idiots