Contusions, Concussions and Complicity

According to Oxford Languages, a contusion is a region of injured tissue or skin in which blood capillaries - small blood vessels - have been ruptured; a bruise. A concussion is characterized by temporary unconsciousness or confusion caused by a blow on the head. You see the blow coming, but

you can't duck in time. Your eye begins to swell and you struggle to maintain your balance. The second strike removes your equilibrium and you fall face first and hit your forehead on the wooden coffee table. When you wake up in the ER the resident inquires what brought you in and partly from shame, partly from fear, you lie. "I slipped and fell doctor. I can be so clumsy - two left feet", she said. The resident knows better, but without her corroboration his hands are tied. The nurses try to reach her and offer assistance, but she sticks to the story and the next day her husband picks her up to take her home. Her bruises yell for recognition and family, friends and church members silently question the clumsy narrative, but no one wants to intervene. Many people offer platitudes about working things out and make excuses for the abusive behavior. He's a good man. He loves his kids. He's the best police sergeant on the force. He is a wonderful deacon in the church. One day a few years later this wife with an altered sense of reality, born of years of abuse, pours gasoline all over the bed as her husband sleeps and lights the match. The flames quickly envelop the bed and spread as her and her children leave the house. "She's a murderer", they say. (Idea from 1984 movie The Burning Bed with Farah Fawcett) Often people make the mistake thinking that the object of the bully will never fight back. That the docile person lacks the fortitude to defend themselves. When the person who is on the bottom decides enough is enough then the dynamic will change. The bully relies on the acquiescence of the oppressed, but when he or she rises up and refuses to be a doormat and takes their power back the bully will shake, because he never wanted that smoke. Rise Up Oppressed People of the World and Work for Freedom. Now, Mr. Langston Hughes

Warning

by Langston Hughes Negroes, Sweet and docile, Meek, humble and kind: Beware the day They change their mind! Wind In the cotton fields, Gentle Breeze: Beware the hour It uproots trees!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBk9BvU__Ew

For anyone who is experiencing domestic violence take advantage of these resources:

National Domestic Violence Hotline and The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community