The news that R&B artiste Chris Brown will be here for a Boxing Day concert this year has sparked concerns because of his infamous punching up of pop star Rihanna and this has let to a suggestion from a social activist that he donate money to the domestic violence fight here and spend time in jail with abusers.
In a letter which will appear in tomorrow’s Stabroek News, women and child rights advocate Vidyaratha Kissoon laid out in graphic detail the police report on the beating of Barbadian star Rihanna by Brown.
He noted that Brown did no jail time for the assault on Rihanna – whose mother is Guyanese – and he pointed out that here, the Government and the Private Sector are unable to provide funding to sustain the domestic violence programmes needed to rehabilitate men like Brown.
Saying that it appears that the government and his fans want Brown to be forgiven, Kissoon asks whether there is any hope of redemption and then makes a suggestion.
“The Government of Guyana and the Private Sector must donate all of the proceeds, and Chris Brown double his fees to the work being done in Guyana against domestic violence. And Chris Brown should spend time in jail in Guyana, with the men who have made similar ‘mistakes’ and brutalised the women they have loved. Chris Brown should work with the men to learn about the behaviour and attitude change needed for recovery. All of this of course, is assuming that Chris Brown has changed”.
