On AM Tonight with Alicia Menendez on Fusion, Dr. Jason Johnson discusses the indefinite suspension of Ray Rice and the treatment of domestic violence in the NFL with Cyd Zeigler of OutSports.com and Erin Ryan of Jezebel.com.
Ray Rice will likely never play another down of football again…but that ending is part of a much bigger story.
This week the former Ravens’ running back was suspended indefinitely by the NFL shortly after a video was released by TMZ, showing Rice hitting his then-fiance, Janay Palmer in an elevator.
The league had originally given Rice a two-game ban based on another video of the same night– which was released back in February, but decided to increase its suspension based on the new leaked video.
The debate has centered around whether or not the league knew about the extended video, but shouldn’t we be asking why we needed the video in the first place? Who’s responsibility is it to take action when a player goes out of bounds?
It isn’t just Ray Rice. It isn’t just football. The conversation is bigger than him or his wife or the league. Gender, race and money are at play, but are we ready to try and find the answers to the questions we’ve been too afraid to ask.
Click here to watch “NFL knew about Ray Rice video, but that shouldn’t matter.“