Cedric Sunray: Violence against women cannot be trivialized

American Indian women face the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse of any racial or ethnic group in America. Even so, domestic violence is a stranger to none; crossing all ethnic, racial and economic lines.

We are raising young men in this society to be predators through a large diversity of media, music, absentee parenting and most unfortunately, silent voices. As an educator, husband, former college student-athlete and head college coach, current student at the OU College of Law and father of one daughter and three sons, I have a responsibility to speak out about the current situation surrounding the actions of OU football player Joe Mixon.

In 1992, during my first semester of university at a large NCAA school on the east coast, I intervened in a domestic violence situation between a star football player and his girlfriend. My intervention was due to him punching her in the face. During the altercation which ensued between the two of us in front of our athletic dorm, I caused severe injuries to him which included a broken arm. I was arrested and put in jail briefly. His girlfriend, the victim of domestic violence, testified against me in court. She told the judge that I had instigated the fight with her boyfriend. The proverbial writing was on the wall. I would have to transfer to play at another college if one would have me. Nothing was ever done to the perpetrator.

In the Friday, November 31 edition of the "Norman Transcript," an article titled “Mixon accepts plea agreement,” quoted OU President David Boren as saying, “We hope that our students will all learn from those standards, but at the same time, we believe in second chances so that our students can learn and grow from life’s experiences. As we have previously indicated, Joe Mixon will not play for our football team during the 2014 season, including postseason competitions. He will have an opportunity to earn his way back on the team during the spring semester.”

I was provided a second chance which led to a positive college athletic and academic experience, eventually leading to a degree. The huge difference, however, is that I didn’t punch a woman in the face.