by Crystal Brown
If we lived in a society in which women were treated as equals, Anna Canela Prieto would not be in a wheelchair today.
Prieto is the woman who had to have her legs amputated after her husband took a shotgun and shot her three times in each knee because she told him she was going to work. Apparently, her husband's friend constantly teased him about not having a job while his wife did. Anna refused to quit her job, so he made sure she would never work again.
Anna's husband will serve 20-something years for his crime, while Anna is sentenced to the wheelchair for the rest of her life.
Houstonians have poured their hearts out to this native Honduran, who came to Houston to make a better life for herself and her family. She often sent money back to Honduras to help her mother, who was caring for Anna's 3-year-old son. She planned to send for him when she got settled. Imagine the look on that little boy's face the first time he saw his legless mother. Even worse, he must find out that his father did this to his mother.
This isn't the first time Anna's husband has been abusive. Years ago, he poured battery acid on his first wife's vagina during a domestic dispute. He received no punishment for that crime.
I recently met Anna. She is a beautiful woman with a broken spirit. We spoke in Spanish, and I told her how sorry I was. Somehow, I felt that my words were not enough. The large sutures on her kneecaps spoke for themselves.
It should be of no surprise that I have no sympathy for batterers. Any man who hits his wife is wrong, especially when there are children in the home. Warren Moon is a batterer, and thus, I have no respect for him.
Felicia and Warren Moon insist that what occurred in their home was a private family matter. Their incident became public the minute their maid placed a 911 call to authorities. It is the state's duty to prosecute crimes that occur in its jurisdiction. Domestic abuse is a crime whether it is the first time or the fifth, a slap or a punch, or behavior the wife has learned to accept.
I cannot believe that preachers and activists came out to publicly defend the Moons. What Warren did was wrong, and for a so-called minister of God to downplay Moon's actions is hideous. The preacher said what happens in man's home is his business. I suppose Jeffrey Dahmer's cannibalistic dinners in his own home were his business too.
Interestingly, Felicia wore red clothing to the trial every day to remind her of the blood that Jesus shed for her. Black and blue would have reminded her of all the battered wives who are killed each year in Harris County alone.
Warren Moon was found not guilty and is free to go on with his life and rebuild his life. And while Moon walks away from justice, Anna Canela Prieto will never walk again.
Brown is a senior RTV major
who doesn't watch the Minnesota Vikings.