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domestic violence December 2, 2018
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The Kareem Hunt conundrum: Does provocation ever elicit violence?

This past Friday (Nov 30th), a video surveillance of Kansas City Chiefs star running back, Kareem Hunt, brutally attacking a woman in a Cleveland hotel hit was released by TMZ.

In the footage you can see Hunt shove and brutally kick the woman as his entourage desperately tried to hold him back in what was a cringe-worthy watch, to be honest.

As you can imagine, Kareem Hunt was immediately placed on the NFL’s Commissioner Exempt List then later let go by the Chiefs — this was absolutely the last problem the NFL wants. Television ratings have been up, the President has other issues at hand and after the Ray Rice fiasco, the NFL really had no choice to jump on this.

Hunt, who has the fifth-most rushing yards in the NFL this year, led the league in rushing last year as a rookie, and is only 23, too, did what he needed to qualm the media storm.

Today, the Ohio-native spoke on “Sunday NFL Countdown,” apologizing to the 19-year-old girl from the surveillance camera. However, he did not go into detail about what exactly led to his explosion in a Cleveland hotel in February.

Hunt said in his first public comments after TMZ released the video,

“I just want to let the world know how sorry I am for my actions. It’s been a tough time for me and I’m extremely embarrassed about that video.”

He continued,

“I just thought of myself as being just not me. I was raised better than that. I’m not the type of person to ever even think about putting my hands on anyone. A woman, a girl. It doesn’t matter.”

But according to many who read the reports of the incident, it does.

Unlike the Ray Rice, Greg Hardy and other domestic violence issues the NFL has previously dealt with, however, this one concerning Kareem has brought a new conversation: does provocation ever elicit violence?

https://twitter.com/PLaFerla/status/1068690987868930048

See, what Kareem felt was unnecessary to get in to and that everyone else is debating are the hairy details leading up to the altercation.

According to the woman, the whole thing started because Kareem kicked her out of his room after she refused to hook up with one of the men in Kareem’s entourage, but Kareem’s friends told cops the woman had gone crazy when asked to leave and called Kareem the n-word, even striking one of Kareem’s female friends once things turned physical.

The truth of the events may never come out being that things like this generally play out as “he-said, she-said,” but let’s say we’re giving Kareem and his crew the benefit of a doubt here, what was he supposed to do? For individuals — especially POC — who are provoked with racial slurs, how are they to respond?

Though Kareem may not have had the answer at the moment, his words in his interview today clearly state what the answer is: “It doesn’t matter. Man or woman.”

And he’s right.

This is not a man vs woman issue, a black vs white issue or domestic violence issue as much as it is a non-violence issue. Had Kareem done this to another man the outrage should be the same — violence is never the answer. If anything, Kareem should have reported her, not attacked her.

It’s concerning to hear the conversation completely geared towards one side. Granted he’s is the above average personality with above average life, but shouldn’t the instigator also be held responsible?

Luckily the woman in the video was not seriously harmed and will be okay. It’s just unfortunate that a 23-year-old black man who, when under the influence lost it after allegedly being called the N-word, may not be.