Somebody's having a really tough week. After dealing with wife-beating allegations, being hammered in the media and getting kicked off the air, NY1's celebrated and humiliated journalist Dominic Carter has found himself in yet another controversy.

The story goes like this:

Reports say that on a Delta Airlines flight to Kansas City, Carter bent over to tie his shoes and "accidentally" bumped into a flight attendant. This led to the enraged attendant stating, "This man deliberately slammed in to me. I want him off the plane!" According to reports, Carter voluntarily removed himself from the plane. It is not clear whether he would have had to leave regardless.

How this happened and who did what is not completely clear. Personally, I've flown on a lot of airplanes, and it seems to me that you have to work pretty hard to get the flight attendant to have you removed. There are others, though, who claim that the flight attendant recognized Carter and might have been biased because of his wife-beating allegations. Who knows?

There are also additional reports by the New York Post (not a source I enjoy referencing, given that it is owned by the people who run FOX News) that Carter's wife, Marilyn, disappeared and ran away from him while they were in a hotel in Kansas City. Does any of this remind you of the scene where Tina Turner ran away from Ike in their hotel room in 'What's Love Got to Do With It?'

Well, Carter's wife seems to be quite loyal to him. After bashing him on the police report detailing her beating incident, she then recanted her entire story, making herself look silly in the process. True love is when you will embarrass yourself to protect someone who may not deserve to be protected. By denying her initial claims, Carter's wife has effectively muted her ability to be taken seriously the next time she wants police to believe that her husband whacked her upside the head.

What's worse about Mrs. Carter's "change of heart and memory" is that she blamed her attack on a mysterious day laborer whose name she doesn't remember. Okay, now you've made me a little upset. Do you know how many times random black men have been falsely accused of crimes they didn't commit? Please don't start doing the same thing to the Latino community. I am not here to say that Mrs. Carter's story isn't accurate, because she might be telling the truth by admitting that she was lying (imagine that: a liar who is expected to have credibility when they claim they are telling the truth later). Perhaps it is possible that some random day laborer is the one who gave her the bruises on the night she claimed her husband kicked and choked her, but if she's going to be a liar, then she should at least be a creative liar. "The random Hispanic man did it" is simply not acceptable.

I hope that Dominic gets his life together. I can't imagine the stress he and his family are under, and the greatest victim is his 21-year-old daughter Courtney, who called Kansas City police to tell them that her parents have "domestic violence issues." If you can't get it together for yourselves, then please stop torturing your children. They shouldn't be victimized by such selfish and immature behavior.

To listen to Marilyn Carter's original 911 call, click the image below:




Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University and the 2007 Black Speaker of the Year. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.