PRESS RELEASE: The New Agenda Calls on Chris Brown and Record Label Jive to Fund Youth Violence Prevention Education Programs
March 6, 2009
by The New Agenda
|This morning The New Agenda sent out the following press release:
The New Agenda, a non-partisan national women’s rights group, is calling on Chris Brown and his recording label Jive to fund youth violence prevention education programs. Brown appeared in court this week on two felony charges – assault and making criminal threats – in the reported beating of Rihanna last month.
“Funding youth education for prevention of family violence is the best way Brown can demonstrate that he acknowledges the seriousness of his actions, and that he’s committed to making a difference for himself and for other youth who grew up in similar environments,” said The New Agenda co-founder Amy Siskind.
Siskind said Chris Brown and Rihanna have captivated the nation’s attention, particularly among youth, opening a debate that has the potential to be enormously productive in raising awareness about violence against women. Both Brown and Rihanna have spoken about their troubled childhoods, and appear to be playing out the same violence and victimization patterns that follow children who grow up in violent homes.
Research shows that women who were exposed to violence in their homes as children are significantly more likely to become victims of dating violence than are daughters from nonviolent homes. According to the Family Violence Prevention Fund, physical abuse during childhood increases the risk of victimization for women and the risk of future perpetration by men two-fold.
“This is an important teachable moment for America’s youth,” Siskind said. “In addition to complying with any judgment handed down by the court, Chris Brown should take this opportunity to send a message that a violent past is not a justification for a violent future. Youth and adults who learn nonviolent conflict resolution techniques and reprogram their reference points for what is acceptable can live healthy, loving lives as adults.”
Siskind said both Rihanna and Chris Brown are role models, and should take responsibility for the impact of their actions on the audience that has made them wealthy celebrities. “Our teenage sons and daughters are watching these role models. Today, one in three female teenagers in a dating relationship has feared for her physical safety,” said Siskind.
Siskind added that there is entirely too much glorification of violence in the music and entertainment industry: “Kanye West and other artists are saying we ought to give Brown a break. This is the break we’re willing to give him. We hope he takes this opportunity to truly acknowledge his regret and demonstrate his commitment to a nonviolent future.”
This is a great idea, a way to make the best out of a bad situation.
- any stats on perps that actually regret their actions??? ahhh, are we looking at say maybe 3% ??? the mantra of repent and reform gets old, better he does a year of hard time thus we know he can’t batter any woman for at least a year. Would some hard time give pause for reflection or at least some instinctual Skinner-like response and acknowledgement of actions and consequence? Probably not – my gut feeling is most men that will batter a woman would regard themselves as a victim once locked down.
I agree Cynthia, and I hope that Rihanna is also being encouraged to be a role model for young women in saying that such behavior is just not acceptable. I have not been following what the two of them have been saying to the media but my impression is that she has been very quiet about the incident. If they could both, as a couple, be encouraged to stand up and say “yes, that was wrong and violence against women is never acceptable” what a powerful message it would be to the young people who listen to them. Great Press release Amy and good luck with the interview fro Canada!
I like the idea. Brown has created a “teachable moment” by bringing male violence against women to the fore.
I would like to view a public interview with the Chris Brown and Rihanna discussing their perceptions of violence–what constitutes violence and what is their understanding of the origins of violence among couples–then discussing how and why it occurs between them. Are they able to step back from what happened in order to explain it? As role models, could they be useful in a good way? I know that–of course they can, I am rambling.
My daughter is working toward her PhD in nursing and plans to go into preventative medicine. She just called me and we talked a bit about HIV, violence, and health literacy. Health literacy is the biggest stumbling block of the three. The women’s HIV figures in an earlier blog are so scary. They can only be addressed through health literacy. But if people don’t read regularly–leaf through magazines, pick up pamphlets–it will take a concerted effort in many fields to achieve this.
I wanted to be more coherent in this response, but there is so much that is inter related.
Chris Brown nor Rihanna are role models. Our kids role models are us, their parents. I give them both credit for the ‘decent’ lives they have lived in the public eye for the 3 or 4 years they’ve both been out,up until this point. I think our society as a whole is way too saturated with violence. I don’t blame rap music, which Chris Brown is not a rapper. I blame the music industry heads, I blame the movie writers and producers, I blame the stress we put on ourselves and our kids to pursue money ahead of family, I blame our taking spirituality and character building out of schools. I think Chris is/was an extremely charismatic young man. His intentions were to build a charitable foundation similiar to the boys/girls clubs – he’s mentioned that before. So I do hope he pursues that and helps young kids that do have problems, whether it is violence related or not. But I think the most important thing we as a nation need to do, is look at the fact that we no longer allow our kids to be kids. We bombard them with ignorance,sexuality and violence in every media form, constantly, and we expect that to not impact them?
Great press release and great strategy! The more and varied ways we approach the problem of violence against women, the more people we’ll reach.
asdf,
I agree that parents need to do what they can. Perhaps this Chris Brown situation gives us the opportunity to remind our children about what is and what is not acceptable behavior. I took the opportunity today to remind my son and daughter – and then had my basketball team in the car and when this situation came up in the conversation, I had the an abridged version with the girls.
Where I disagree is that the girls and boys are watching what happens. I am grateful that the charges have not been dropped – that would have set a horrific example. I hope that the DA presses and treats this as it should – if the guy is guilty, let him wear orange and think about it for a while.
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