I grew up in a middle class white neighborhood and my parents are still married. I had everything that Ray Rice probably didn't have while growing up. I had a warm bed and food to eat every single night. I had parents to teach me right from wrong, to praise me when I did good and punish me when I did something wrong. I was taught the meaning of love and respect and my mother made a point many times to tell me you never, ever, hit a woman.
Three to four million women in the United States are beaten in their homes each year by their husbands, ex-husbands, or male lovers. ("Women and Violence," Hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, August 29 and December 11, 1990, Senate Hearing 101-939, pt. 1, p. 12.).
Each year men hit the person who they are suppose to love above all others, and the problem is growing. I would like to make it very clear that this is not a black/white issue, so we can nip that in the bud as domestic violence doesn't know if you are black, white, Asian, or Hispanic but is perpetrated by men from all races. It is estimated that one in four women will be the victim of domestic violence at some time in their life.
I am disappointed in you not because you are a man in a position of great power or your in a position to effect a meaningless game but because you are the father to these men in a way that is the same as I am to my children. You have the ability to send a message to not only Ray Rice, but every young man who is in high school playing high school football, to every single man in your organization to the the millions of men out there that can learn its wrong to hit women by your actions here.
Instead, you decide to send a message to every single "child" that its okay to hit women and abuse them as long as you can run the ball well or hit 30 home runs a game. I would like to be very clear here -- it is never okay to hit a woman...ever! My five year old son will know this. My daughter will know that she does not have to ever take that type of abuse. I do not worry about them because I will teach them right from wrong. Where it saddens me is the kids who don't have parents that don't even care enough to teach them what they should be taught.
You should be ashamed of being a father to these young men who look up to you. You have failed millions of children, your coaches and your players in the National Football League. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was applauded recently for his actions to Donald Sterling and his blatant racism that was brought to light recently. As much as I think he hit the nail on the head and was correct, your actions quite possibly are the worst response to and issue I have ever seen, and what you really have to ask yourself, would Ray Rice had still gotten two games has it been your daughter that he dragged out of that elevator?
Yours Truly,
Cody Ryan Schiemann