In July 2014, at around two o’clock in the morning, a young woman was physically assaulted in a café on the University of Oklahoma campus. The woman, 20-year-old student Amelia Rae Molitor, was punched in the face by 18-year-old Joe Mixon, a freshman running back for the OU football team. The incident caused uproar almost instantaneously. News of the incident had spread throughout campus, the town, the state and so on. It became the subject of casual classroom conversation for weeks.
I remember hearing about the attack and not thinking much of it. I know it sounds like a terrible thing to say, but it’s true. I knew it was awful, no doubt about it, and I was just as angry and frustrated as everyone else was. But as an OU student, I had faith that my university would respond appropriately. And by appropriately, I mean enforce the proper punishment. When Mixon was given one-year suspension, I was disappointed, but glad that he at least faced some consequence.
I was naïve then. Now video of the assault has been released to the public. I watched it twice from beginning to end, and the brutality of it sank in. Simply hearing about Molitor getting punched is one thing but it’s different when you see it - when you someone’s face slams into a table and their attacker walks away like nothing happened. It’s disgusting, it’s disturbing, it’s infuriating. What’s worse is that the punch itself isn’t the only disturbing aspect of the video.
No one tried to do anything. There were customers at the café and employess who didn’t even attempt to diffuse the situation, help Molitor after she was hit, or call 911. Maybe they were scared, or perhaps they were too shocked to do anything. But that’s not an excuse. A young girl in a bright green tank top rushed to Molitor’s side when she went down. Two grown men sitting at a table near the entrance didn’t move a muscle. All they did was watch, and they left soon after Mixon did. I can’t wrap my head around why people would pretend like it didn’t happen. What if he’d stabbed her, or pulled out a gun? At what point will people say enough is enough?
It’s clear from what I saw that the conflict started outside and continued inside the café. Molitor shoved Mixon, he lurched forward, she slapped him and he threw the devastating punch. People may argue that Mixon was only acting in self-defense, and that Molitor is partially to blame because she made the first move. This claim makes it seem as if Molitor was coming after Mixon with a knife or a baseball bat. She wasn’t armed. Not to mention she’s a lot smaller than he is, so I doubt she could do much damage. Mixon could’ve walked away, but he didn’t. Sure, he was probably intoxicated at the time (like she was), but that’s not an excuse. He could’ve shown restraint, separating himself from the situation entirely. It’s not a hard thing to do.
Above all things, the hardest truth to swallow is the degree of punishment Joe Mixon received. Personally, I think it should’ve been more severe. When video of the SAE racist chant was leaked online, OU president David Boren shut down the fraternity and the three boys who seemed to egg the others on were expelled. So my question is if racist speech is bad enough to be expelled for, why doesn’t assault and battery? Does a situation in which a person was hospitalized with half of her face broken deserve less consequence? My answer is no, no it shouldn’t. This is a case where a simple “I’m sorry” isn’t enough.
