This story was told to me by a working class, Black American man, close to 70 years old, though he looks to be in his late 40’s. He has a rather distinctive name, so I am choosing to keep it anonymous.
He was raised in the rural south in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and is one of the few elder men whose advice I seek and value. Having known this man for over 10 years, I have no doubts as to the authenticity of his story.
“Man, I had 4 brothers and 8 sisters. As soon as I was old enough, I took off on my motorcycle and STAYED gone.”
“One of my sisters married a cop while I was gone. Before they got married, my dad told this man, ‘You don’t lay hands on her.’”
“I finally made it home a few years later, and my dad told me to go see my sister. I said ‘Why I wanna see her for? She’s an asshole!’” (Being an only child, I cannot even imagine what 8 sisters would be like.....)
“Oh man, when I finally went to look at her in her bedroom there, I thought she got in a car wreck. Broken jaw, broken ribs, broken nose. Her husband did it. He was a BIG BOY too, probably six-five, 290. I walked out that house man, hopped on my bike and went to the sporting goods store. Bought an aluminum baseball bat, then rode my bike to the police station and walked right into his office. I lit his ass up. Broke his legs. Broke his hands. Damn near killed him. I ended up only doing 6 months. They didn’t even wanna charge me, ‘cause they knew it’d make the department look bad. I told the judge I’d do the same thing again when he asked me that in court. He was the first of three brother-in-laws I had to do like that, all for layin’ hands on my sisters.”
“That guy left the force and got another job as a sheriff in Florida. He beat his new wife real bad one day, and then decided to shoot her, shoot her mama, and then shoot himself afterwards. He’s the only one that died, the two women survived.”
Let the World Fend for Itself
Big Ron's Baltimore: A Working Man's View of Urban Blight
youtube.com/watch?v=wuPfJlctT8w&feature=youtu.be
cops are for our protection
Why is it considered bad to hit a woman? I highly doubt it's always been like that.
I like this man's attitude! Pretty bold move, though, walking into a police station and taking a bat to a lawman with a gun in his desk or belt and surrounded by his buddies. Glad he's still here to talk about it.
Any man that lays hands on a woman to hurt her ought to be de-nutted with a rusty saw blade.
If a man, any man, slapped or assaulted MY sister, I'd hurt him so bad and so permanently that he'd shoot himself before he ever went past the thought to do it again.
It's a well-controlled situation in my house. If I EVER raised a hand to my wife, I'd never wake up in my bed again (think about that for a minute; there's two paths), and we both know it. So it's never happened, and not gonna happen.
My father got a call from his sister when i was 7-8 yrs old. Her husband had beat her. My Dad was a professor of physiology at a medical school. Man, was he pissed, grabbed up several guns threw them in the car and headed out for a 7 hr drive to indiana where his sister lived. I think the long drive saved my uncles life. Anyways, the man was a weepy mess by the time Dad arrived....
I still have cousins that grouse about it- If your dad would have killed my dad i would've killed him! I just look at them, we always were the harder branch of the family...
I've never hit a woman, though I've wrestled with one and she fell pretty heavily (blood-curling scream and worried neighbors, but no police).
I will say that if a woman lets fly a groin-kick or goes to pick up a weapon I don't feel bound by any Marquess of Queensberry etiquette. I've had my hand smashed in a door jamb and a saucepan of boiling lentils pitched at me (separate incidents, different women). I've received backhanders and taken it, but I maintain that's risky behavior for a woman. Once the adrenalin is up, no one knows how it will ends.
Let's face it: ass-kickins rarely fall outa the sky fully-formed.