Will Chris Brown's Apology Stick?

Chris Brown has a thing or two to teach Mark Sanford and John Ensign about how to say you're sorry. In his taped apology to Rihanna, for punching her in February, the singer sounds forthright and sincere. He's straightforward and direct. He invokes his mother, more than once. He says he's getting help and he promises not to do it again. All the boxes checked, including remorse.

Should we believe him? For me this raises all kinds of questions about how sunny I feel about the human capacity for change. I want to think Brown can reform, control his anger, yell at women instead of smacking them around when he does get mad. But he's got some deep-seated history to contend with. According to Spin, "Brown was raised surrounded by domestic violence; his stepfather allegedly abused his mother." Brown told MTV in 2006 that watching his stepfather was "an influence in me about how to treat a woman." He also said, "I used to always feel the hate for anybody that disrespected a lady."

So which way will Brown go—toward repeating the pattern he saw as a child, or toward his gut reaction that batterers are loathsome? I'm not sure the odds are in his favor. Still, for now, you gotta root for him. And hope he has a good therapist.

Photograph of Chris Brown in court by Lori Shepler/AFP/Getty Images.

Tags: Chris Brown, domestic violence, Rihanna

Emily Bazelon is a founding editor of Double X, and a writer and editor at Slate.

Comments

Don't put it all on him

By: islandchick | Wed, 07/22/2009 - 11:34

The thing about this whole scenario is that he's gotten all the blame and been made out to be the villain in the piece. I think that's unfair. As a West Indian woman myself (though not from Barbados), I know how we are and how we get, and all my friends are of the opinion that while none of us were in the car with them, no West Indian woman would just sit there and take a beating without either provoking and taunting or fighting back. It just so happens that she got the worst of the fight.

Now, I'm not condoning Chris Brown's behaviour one bit. But I also think it's annoying that everyone painted Rhianna as some poor, defenceless victim. She wasn't. She isn't.

So he's apologised and I think he really means it. The only thing I think, is that he should have done it sooner.

i think he did a bit more

By: ctraywic | Tue, 07/21/2009 - 12:54

i think he did a bit more than punch.

It sounds as though he is

By: misslkodell | Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:50

It sounds as though he is still mad at Rhianna. "I have TOLD...." sounds like frustration and anger to me. I sincerely hope he is getting help to prevent abuse in the future (any kind of abuse) but it is very hard for me to believe he is not doing this just because he got caught. My views of abusers are harsh, and I tend not to give them any chance to push their actions onto other people/experiences so I can't take him at face value with this. I really hope he is remorseful and that he is getting treatment and I know that time will tell. I hope he can become a role model for young boys who grow up in abusive situations to break the cycle without re-creating it first but he will have to prove himself in every relationship he is in.