Millions of us - whether we want to admit it or not - are fans of Chris Brown's dance beats and jump at the sound of hearing Rihanna's voice singing her hit song Umbrella – ella – ella – eh – eh – eh!

And, millions of us - whether we want to admit it or not - were fascinated by the on-again off-again schmoozing of the two in their not-so secret relationship.

Which came as no surprise that it caught everyone's attention when news broke about Chris Brown turning himself into Los Angeles police for the much-talked about physical altercation with Rihanna before the Grammy awards that sent her to the hospital screaming.

Though all of the details have not been released, court-of-public opinion and sympathy have swayed between the singers. However, riders asked on the 1 train from Brooklyn about the brawl agreed more attention should be brought to domestic violence.

"Arrrrrggg," screamed Muriel from Flatbush. "I don't care how cute Chris Brown is – you don't hit a woman. I can't believe that happened. I was so into him. Something needs to be done about men hitting on all of these women. Just because she is screaming at you does not mean you can hit her. I don't care what they say. You should be locked up."

A guy by the name of Angel was sitting next to Muriel, but said Rihanna could have asked for it.

"If someone is screaming at you – you are only going to take so much," he said in Chris Brown's defense. "It takes two to makes things right. It also takes two to make them wrong."

Asked if she would become an advocate in protesting against domestic abuse after last weekend's drama, Muriel said "hell yes!"
Her anger was reminiscent of the frustration felt last year when New Yorkers called out local assemblymen for pushing domestic violence bills.

Bill No. S2034, attempted to upgrade crimes against children to felony offenses; Bill No. S3646 authorized family and supreme courts to issue orders of protection for the protection of witnesses; Bill No. S894 authorized orders of protection of further or permanent duration in the presence of aggravating circumstances; and Bill No. S4796, required that individuals who have an order of protection issued against them to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Despite the success and failures of these bills, it shouldn't take an incident out of Hollywood for New Yorkers to become more aware about domestic violence.

According to reports, Rihanna was reportedly involved in the domestic dispute with her boyfriend Chris Brown that resulted in his arrest and booking on charges of making criminal threats. A police statement said the woman who reported the incident was injured, and identified Brown as her attacker. Charges have not yet been filed and neither Brown nor Rihanna has come forth to comment on the incident.

In Los Angeles recently, New Yorker Rosario Dawson, mentioned Rihanna in her plea to support the V-Day cause, which has raised more than $60 million to stop violence against women worldwide.

"What's so incredible is the sympathy, courage, love and compassion that comes from that," she said in an Associated Press report. "That's what we need to be tapping into and realizing that all of these women, all across the world, are our sisters."
Before we rush to judgment about what happened in L.A., we all should continue to push our local and state politicians in efforts to enforce stricter legislation on abuse suspects and make sure their hands never touch a single victim's face again.
"Now freeze!"