As the parent of teenagers, one constant battle we fight is which radio station we’ll listen to.
It’s a battle that my husband and I often lose, because we are normally outvoted by a minivan full of hormonal teenagers who are either growing something or losing something, including patience.
This week my son and I hunkered down together to watch the Grammys, which means he watched and I dozed in a nearby chair.
The next day we learned that famed R&B artist Chris Brown, 19, had been arrested for allegedly threatening his longtime girlfriend, the equally beloved and talented Rihanna, either before or during the big event, which neither one attended.
According to published reports, Rihanna wound up with a bloody nose, a split lip and facial bruises. Prosecutors in Los Angeles say formal assault charges may be filed against Brown next week.
After a couple of days of discussion, one of Portland’s premier Top 40 radio stations, WJBQ – Q97.9, elected to stop playing Brown’s music. It was a step lauded by Anne Jordan, Maine’s commissioner of Public Safety, who spent much of 2008 warning Mainers of the rise in the number of domestic-related homicides.
Some called the decision censorship.
Last year there were 31 homicides in Maine; 19, or two-thirds of them, were related to domestic violence.
Brown’s alleged assault against his young girlfriend came ironically at the end of Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week. According to a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of ninth- to 12th-graders who say that they have been hit, slapped or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriends or girlfriends within the last 12 months is at an all-time high of 9.9 percent.
One social worker who works with a batterers intervention program in southern Maine noted a marked increase in the number of 18-year-old boys enrolled in that program.
“It’s a disturbing trend, …” she said, “[Y]outh interpersonal violence is a national epidemic and my fear is that we will see younger and younger men coming into our program for who power and control tactics seem to be strongly entrenched. We have our work cut out for us.”
I can almost guarantee you that hardly one teenager, or adult for that matter, spent much time talking about Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week.
But you can bet that teens throughout the state, especially in the listening area of Q97.9, were talking about it when they decided to pull Brown’s music.
Compared to other R&B and hip-hop idols, the baby-faced Chris Brown is considered an innocent. He appears in wholesome milk commercials and has clowned around with Sesame Street’s Elmo.
For years the public listened to reports of violence by singer Bobby Brown against his former wife, Whitney Houston. No one said much, except expressing regret that the talented couple was in such constant turmoil. Perhaps her alleged drug addiction made her less of a sympathetic victim?
Q97.9 made a thoughtful and responsible decision and Commissioner Jordan did the same by publicly supporting it.
There’s a week supporting or lamenting just about every cause or disease on the planet. There’s nothing wrong with that, but truthfully they don’t result in much change, and no one really pays too much attention, especially teenagers.
Now we’ve got their attention and perhaps now is the time to see if we can get them to tune in.