Column: The NFL says it wants to help marginalized people. It can start by holding Chad Wheeler accountable and showing respect to Black women and victims of domestic violence.

Seven years ago on Valentine’s Day weekend, Ray Rice and his then-fiancee Janay Palmer were arrested on charges of simple assault.

The Atlantic City, N.J., altercation, which started as a small report in the Baltimore Sun, ballooned when TMZ released footage of the former Baltimore Ravens running back dragging Palmer in a hotel hallway. The public was disgusted. The Ravens asked for leniency. The NFL suspended Rice for two games.

The next year former New York Giants kicker Josh Brown was under investigation for domestic abuse after his then-wife, Molly Brown, accused him of more than 20 transgressions. The public was disgusted. The Giants awarded Brown a two-year, $4 million deal. The NFL suspended Brown for one game.

Rice and Brown were driven out of football, but not by the institutions that paid them. In each case, public groundswell grew large enough that exile was the only option.

But the NFL’s terrible record on domestic violence didn’t stop there. Greg Hardy, Kareem Hunt, Tyreek Hill and other players the league deemed too talented to part with have followed.

And unfortunately, almost to the date of its most high-profile domestic violence case, the NFL is faced with its most sensitive one. Complexities abound, with domestic violence, race and mental health issues at the forefront. How will the NFL respond here? And could another public incident lead to greater scrutiny of the league’s domestic violence problem?

While those answers remain unclear as the NFL bides its time, vivid details have emerged from former Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Chad Wheeler’s alleged Jan. 23 assault of his girlfriend. He received a long list of charges, including first-degree domestic violence assault and domestic violence unlawful imprisonment, both felonies. He pleaded not guilty to all charges Monday in Washington.

The victim, a Black woman, was beaten beyond recognition, is alleged to have suffered appalling injuries at the hands of Wheeler, who is white. She will need surgery to fix a broken arm and dislocated elbow. She also will need to heal from damage to her face, eye, throat and lungs. She arrived at court with her left arm in a sling, according to ESPN.com.

Wheeler, 27, who was accused in a police report of choking his girlfriend until she lost consciousness, placed visible scars on the victim but also created a harrowing experience she is unlikely to forget. How is one to recover from a partner attempting to take your life? From a partner scoffing in displeasure when you regain consciousness? From a partner expressing disbelief at your will to live?

Those are the questions with which she alone will wrestle. Too often that is the case for Black women, who suffer abuse at a disproportionate rate and are among the country’s least appreciated and most marginalized citizens.

Abuse rates can vary based on race, social conditions and economic status. But Black and Native American women face the highest rates of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, according to a 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report based on data from 2010-12. This experience has only been heightened for women during the coronavirus pandemic.

These optics are impossible to ignore — even for the NFL. Now attention will turn to the league and Commissioner Roger Goodell as the NFL is asked to do what it failed to in the past. We detailed what the NFL is wont to do in domestic violence cases, so should we expect different here? Will the NFL answer the call this time?

We aren’t starting from a place of promise.

The Seahawks reacted days after Wheeler was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. They completed the formal process and waived him, releasing a softly worded statement on Jan. 27. Wheeler released his own statement the same day and announced he would step away from football, citing a manic episode and professing he needs professional help in a since-deleted tweet.

There were problems in both statements. The same problem. In neither case was the victim fully the subject.

Wheeler, who reportedly is bipolar, should receive help to improve his mental health. But he also should take complete responsibility for his actions, especially if he decided to stop taking medication. The description of an incident during which a 6-foot-7, 300-pound man nearly killed a Black woman with his bare hands simply cannot be called “events happened over the weekend.” The Seahawks statement struck a similar tone, creating distance from the grizzly details of the assault and leaning solely on Wheeler’s mental state.

As for Goodell and the league office? They’ve yet to respond. In the midst of their silence, however, public groundswell is growing again, as have calls for the league to permanently ban Wheeler and take a strong stance on domestic violence.

The league’s inaction has not turned the collective gaze away from this assault largely because the NFL pledged to do better.

Enduring backlash for its treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the league settled with the embattled quarterback and pledged to be better. Placating Donald Trump and all the chaos that came with him brought more unwanted attention, and the league pledged to be better. Watching a summer of civil unrest and Black Lives Matter protests, the league ramped up charitable efforts in the Black community and pledged to be better.

The NFL made a lot of promises. It’s time to make good on one of them. Those who received the league’s lip service with skepticism — and that list is long — are watching. And waiting.

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