The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Senate President LaShell Adderley gave a heartwarming tribute to the late Carissa Culmer, who is alleged to have taken her own life on March 10. Several Progressive Liberal Party parliamentarians, who offered eulogies for Culmer, claimed that she was a victim of domestic violence. Buckling under the weight of a toxic situation, coupled with a perception that the judicial system was nonchalant in its penalization of her alleged batterer, Culmer is alleged to have decided that suicide was her only escape route from a violent batterer, who probably suffers from "bipolar disorder" like the late African American entertainer Ike Turner.

Bipolar disorder is a mental disease that causes extreme mood swings from mania to hypomania, according to clinical psychologists. Quite frankly, I believe that this psychological diagnosis is a pretext that violent people use to evade responsibility for their actions. God will hold men entirely accountable for their unrestrained anger. People like Ike Turner won't be able to use clinical psychology as an excuse on Judgment Day.

Culmer's dilemma isn't unique by any stretch of the imagination. Many young Bahamian men, like Ike Turner, suffer from violent mood swings. These batterers love to vent their frustration on their significant other if something goes wrong. To them, it's a soothing process.

The emotional, psychological and physical scars inflicted during domestic violence take years to heal; in some instances, decades. The tragic story of Tina Turner is a testament of this sobering fact. In 2021, HBO produced a nearly two-hour documentary on her life, titled Tina. As in the case with her memoirs "I, Tina" and "My Love Story," Tina Turner, whose real name is Anna Mae Bullock, detailed harrowing instances of abuse she suffered at the hands of Ike during their rocky marriage between 1962 and 1976. After their wedding in 1962, Ike took Tina to a brothel in Tijuana, Mexico. He is alleged to have broken her nose and jaw. There are also allegations that Tina suffered third degree burns after Ike tossed hot coffee on her. Tina also alleges sexual violence and of regularly having black eyes. Ike died of a cocaine overdose on December 12, 2007, and was cremated. His ashes were interred by Rev Al Sharpton at Our Lady Guadalupe cemetery in Los Angeles. Tina, alleged Madhouse Magazine, urinated and spat on Ike's grave and did a Proud Mary dance as a ritual to overcome the psychological trauma she is still battling with over four decades since their marriage ended in a stormy divorce that left her flat broke. Ike's cocaine addiction contributed to his many violent outbursts in his many marriages. He was reportedly married at least 13 times. His thirteenth wife, Audrey Turner, would also document Ike's violence in her 2016 memoir Love Had Everything to Do With It. When I examine the Tina and Ike Turner domestic violence situation, I see a mirror image of what many young women like Carissa Culmer are silently enduring in The Bahamas. These young women are trapped in relationships with Bahamian men suffering from what I call the Ike Turner syndrome. This country's high rate of sexual violence is ironclad proof that this syndrome is widespread. At least Tina Turner was able to escape with her life. Sadly, Culmer was not so fortunate. To those young women who are currently in a toxic situation, please heed the following words of Tina Turner: "Nothing can be worse than where you are now. If you get up and leave, if you rise from the ashes, life will open up for you again."

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

April 6, 2022.