Post slavery black people were trying on white society ideals for fit, one of which was "a woman's place is in the home," which didn't fit black couples well all. During slavery men and women worked side by side - providing women of expectations of equality. Post slavery both man and woman in family needed to work for wages for the family to survive--again providing women with expectations of equality.
That is, black women were rather used to being treated as equals, and unlike white women, they were in relationships by choice not because they could not work and take care of themselves.
So as black people moved away from slavery and toward wanting the man of the house having the same upper-hand (domination) that white men had over white women --based on the fact that the white man was the only one bringing in wages-- things became stressed.
Some black men recognized and honored equality between genders somewhat, more than white men. But some black men really didn't recognize...Those are the black men that tried to beat black women into a new kind of gender based slavery. There was a great big struggle over race in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Yes, there was. But there was also a huge struggle over class and gender within the black community as well.
Based on stats I've read on decades past, I'm wondering if black women didn't used to wind up killing their abusers a lot more often than they do nowadays. I don't think just-outta-slavery black women went for the okey-doke race solidarity to the point that they were willing to trade a white abuser for a black abuser. Black women that had experienced slavery knew what physical abuse really was before a black man could land the first punch. And I'm thinking that even the dominant morons knew better than to say something like this out loud.
Nowadays, 92% of black female homicide victims are dead due to domestic abuse.
And I've read more than one half of the women that die of domestic abuse die while they were trying to leave the man beating them. The article below says getting a weapon to defend yourself makes things worse. But I can't see going out as a sitting duck either.
Then again, a friend of mine simply ran from her ex for two years until he got bored and married someone else. But, in the meantime, her little 7 year old daughter told her therapist that her worst fear was that her father would kill her mother and she'd be stuck with his crazy behind.
I don't think the answer really lies in personal solutions. We need men and women who leave marks on others, like the photo above, with blood on their fist to go to jail for a decade or more the first time it happens. We need law changes. Right now, some of the laws we've passed trying to protect (mostly women) have back-fired into cops arresting the one doing the punching and the one with the black eye at the same time.
Cops love victim blaming whether the victim be black against white or man against women. We need to take the next step forward. For the black community that means calling out idiots like this out and kicking him and his foulness out of our collective presence.
http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2014.pdf
http://time.com/3313343/ray-rice-black-women-domestic-violence/
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