The videotaped encounter between former NFL player Ray Rice and his then-fiancée have opened floodgates of discussion about domestic violence and the respect and treatment of women. It has also shown just how far this society is off when it comes to understanding the value of women, family and civilized behavior.
It has shown just how much celebrity, sport and play and a billion dollar industry means to the country–sports owners, sports players, sports fans and sports analysts alike.
They are integral parts of a sports industrial complex that promotes and feeds on the national obsession and worship of sports figures. The owners draft, create and market sports figures. The public lionizes, worships the sports figures and lays treasure at the altar of products and services the players tout. The sports writers and analysts are the high priests of the sports cathedrals, offering divinations, interpreting dreams and visions and laying out the will and the personas of the sports gods.
Such false worship will inevitably lead to disappointment as these men and women were never meant to be worshipped. While their athletic prowess may be noteworthy, such gifts in no way foreshadow development of character, morality, right thinking or right conduct.
What is also apparent is that the NFL is more concerned with its brand and its business health than the plight of Ray Rice or his wife. Now it is clear someone at high levels inside the NFL was given the tape showing the brutal blow delivered by footballer Rice to his wife in an elevator. Images of the former Baltimore Ravens running back dragging this woman out of the elevator was bad enough–but that shameful act said much about him, her and the beastial level of conduct in this society.
The truth is the fallen football hero and his wife are examples of how degraded Black existence is in America today. A high profile wealthy couple, arguing, fighting, spitting, disrespecting one another in a drunken stupor and in a public place? How could this be?
“You have never looked at yourself as ‘belonging to’ God; you only see yourself in the light of what The Enemy has made you to see yourself: As ‘ex-slaves’ or ‘Black people of no worth or value or purpose in life.’ The Enemy never taught you the true knowledge of who you are,” said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in a major address at Mosque Maryam delivered Sunday, September 11, 2011 before a packed audience of Muslim women and female guests in Chicago, Illinois that was webcast live via the internet. “And now God has come to bring you back to yourself! You must be introduced to your intrinsic nature; the essence that determines your character, which is God Himself.”
If you don’t know who you are or whose you are, do you know how to behave, how to conduct yourself, or how to relate to your woman? If you have been raised in a savage society, under savage conditions can you expect to exhibit anything other than savage behavior?
To be different you would need a new knowledge and a redefinition of self, manhood, womanhood and family. Money doesn’t give you that redefinition. Fame doesn’t give you the proper definition. An NFL contract, riches, diamond rings or expensive weddings don’t give you the proper definition.
In this world all of those things can actually work to cloud your vison and have you misperceive who you are. None of these worldly things deal with spiritual values and few will call out the error of your ways because of the material things you possess. Few have the character to tell you the truth whether you like it or not or regardless of the consequences.
Can a degraded man do anything other than degrade his woman? Can a degraded woman do anything other than reflect the degraded man she loves or suffer as the degraded man victimizes her and abuses himself?
The NFL is not concerned about the character of Ray Rice nor the condition of his wife. The NFL is a business and is solely concerned with its brand and damage control. The offense really is not the issue for the NFL. The league’s issue is how to manage a problem that could hurt its product and dampen its popularity among women. But the society is so sick that women who have survived abuse defend Mr. Rice and wear his jersey in a show of support for him.
This misplaced worship is another sign of a world gone mad and the deep rooted impact of America’s culture of notoriety and obsession with celebrity. No deed is too outrageous provided that the one who commits the act is famous, raised to a high level by Satanic influences and actions of devilish minded people, who profit from evil and manipulation.
We need a true healing and we need to be raised. That healing can be found in the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and in the words of his national representative, Min. Farrakhan.
“We want to acquaint you today with your Divinity. And then call on you to be yourself,” the Minister said. “If God created us from the same essence, then what is that essence that determines our character? The essence of you is God Himself. The essence, that which determines your character, is your connection to The Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who is also your and my Creator.”
“What happened to women and men that we are so far down and away from the essence of our own being where we, now, are not even a caricature of what God intended?” he asked.
“The Enemy wanted you dumb! The Enemy wants you to think nothing of yourself, so The Enemy strips you of your real nature. He has denatured the female–and the male! And anytime somebody de-natures you, they have de-valued you. So right now as a Black woman or as a Black man: You are not valued. And the worst part of that is you don’t value yourself because The Enemy has made us to think so little of who we are.”
We need to be raised.
