The NFL’s blasé attitude towards domestic violence is unacceptable.
Every minute in the United States, twenty people are physically abused by an intimate partner. One in three women have experienced some form of physical violence from an intimate partner. One in seven have been injured. When men in power, like Roger Goodell, Dan Snyder and Doug Williams make decisions that downplay the severity of domestic violence, they use their power and their platform to further perpetuate violence against women in America.
Making “business decisions” that involve signing a player with a history of domestic violence has an insidious ripple effect. In the locker room, on college teams, and for young boys across the country, the NFL is sending the message that kneeling is more fatal to one’s career than criminal assault.
This was elucidated by the Redskins so transparently last month when they signed Reuben Foster after he was accused of pushing and slapping his girlfriend in a hotel in Tampa Bay while playing for the San Fransisco 49ers. While Foster sits on the commissioner’s exempt list awaiting his fate, the Redskins “considered” bringing Kaepernick in for a workout after starting quarterback Alex Smith suffered a horrific leg injury. Instead, the Redskins signed Josh Johnson, who has been on sixteen different rosters since 2008.
Kareem Hunt’s story doesn’t paint a picture of integrity for the Shield, either. After TMZ released a video showing the Chiefs’ star running back assaulting a woman in Cleveland, Kansas City swiftly released Hunt. A laudable act by the Chiefs muddied by the fact that the incident itself occurred in February of 2018. More troubling was the announcement by Kansas City that “the National Football League and law enforcement initiated investigations into the issue.” Clearly, those investigations were more shallow than the Redskins’ depth at quarterback.
Action swiftly following the release of a TMZ video is a far too familiar story in the NFL. After knocking his girlfriend unconscious and dragging her out of an elevator, Ray Rice was arrested and convicted by a grand jury for third-degree aggravated assault. He was then suspended two games by the League at Goodell’s discretion. Goodell then banned Rice from the NFL when the video was released, insisting that he had not been aware of the video prior to his original punishment. The district court judge who issued a ruling on the challenged suspension in 2014 was not so convinced, suggesting at the time of her decision that Goodell’s awareness was much deeper than he let on.
After facing extensive criticism for his mishandling of the Rice case, Goodell announced that domestic violence offenses by any NFL employee would result in a six-game suspension for a first offense, and a minimum of a year for a second offense. But if these rules detailed in the Personal Conduct Policy were consistently and predictably enforced, why would the Washington Redskins take a chance on claiming Foster in week 13 with four games left in the regular season and a 6-5 record?
The conduct by the men leading the NFL should bother any fan, not just the women who comprise the 45% of its fanbase. Domestic violence isn’t a “women’s issue,” it is a human issue that affects men and women across all populations. To regain its integrity, the NFL needs to rediscover its moral backbone and make decisions that reflect its existence.
