Chris Brown is sorry. The singer apologized for Tuesday's violent tantrum at Good Morning America that came after host Robin Roberts asked him about the infamous assault that inspired the very album he was on the show to promote. Brown says he needed to release "the anger that I had inside of me" and "just let off, like, steam in the back."
It's that same sort of steam that kills hundreds of women each year. And, particularly for women of color, that violence often goes unreported.
What's probably more astonishing than the self-righteousness of that apology is the denial exhibited by Brown and his handlers. Time and again, he's publicly blamed everyone but himself: the devil, the media, his "enemies" (whom, despite his record sales, he hasn't forgiven), and now GMA producers.
It's clear that Brown's got serious mental-health issues stemming from well-documented and untreated trauma. But along with squandering the chance of having a healthy adult social life, Brown's denial does away with a prime opportunity to set a different standard for men of color. As my colleague Akiba Solomon over at Colorlines.com pointed out on Wednesday:
Brown, unlike many men in his community, can afford quality, effective, consistent mental health care without crazy-making bureaucratic nonsense. He’s also in a unique position to circumvent the cultural stigma. He may have heard some variety of “black men don't go to therapy, they go to the barbershop,” but his healing (in theory, at least) is literally court-ordered. His friends, family, community, fans, stans and future romantic partners already know about his anger management and mental health needs.
I can imagine that it would take a lot for Brown to get over himself, and his ego, to go get help. But other high-profile black celebrities with well-recorded anger-management problems have gotten sustained mental-health treatment and come out winners. Just look at Ron Artest.
