No a part of me wished to see this tape to “affirm” whether or not it was the R&B celebrity. (He denied allegations associated to this tape and others). To this present day, I’ve by no means seen it. I nonetheless bear in mind different folks joking in regards to the sexual acts carried out, promoting bootlegged copies of the tape and making derisive feedback in regards to the then-unknown woman. It astonished me how many individuals I knew had been snug watching a tape that, in my opinion, featured t
he rape of a teenage girl.
Too many individuals handled her as if she wasn’t an individual who warranted our care or concern. She was maligned as “
fass,” deemed
hypersexual and
adultified, implying she did not want the identical help, care or safety afforded to White kids and youngsters. She was the butt of jokes. The time period “
golden showers” entered common parlance at her expense. She was a punchline for these extra fascinated with making enjoyable of R. Kelly for his “
sexual proclivities,” than pondering whether or not R. Kelly was seemingly a sexual predator.
It is fairly a feat for an individual to be each hypervisible and invisible, and but it’s typically the lived expertise for Black women and girls. For instance, Black women are hypervisible to Okay-12 lecturers, directors and in-school cops when they’re cited disproportionately for
school dress code violations or when being deemed unruly within the classroom. The identical Black women are rendered invisible in class by disproportionate charges of
suspension and expulsion.
The Black girls who testified towards Kelly
in a 2008 child pornography trial (he was discovered not responsible)
were villainized by his protection workforce for being too sexual. As a survivor of sexual violence myself, I do know the lives of these victimized by Kelly have been modified eternally, whether or not they got here ahead or not.
However I really believed that as a result of he was well-known and his accusers had been primarily poor and working-class Black women and girls, he would escape accountability eternally. I used to be fallacious.
After twenty years of organizing, the unflinching reporting of journalists resembling
Jim DeRogatis, a
#MuteRKelly social media campaign, and a
heartrending docuseries, Robert Kelly is lastly being legally recognized as a sexual predator.
I don’t want to reduce the importance of this second. And but, the truth that it took this a lot effort and dozens of allegations — a lot of which eerily mirrored one another — offers me little hope that this trial and conviction will considerably change how we as a society deal with Black women and girls who’re sexually violated.
Regardless of the great work of
anti-sexual violence organizers,
advocates and
activists who’ve been within the trenches demanding a semblance of recognition for the precise plight of Black girls and women, the needle on how we deal with sexual violence allegations is shifting at a glacial tempo.
Black girls and women who come ahead about sexual violence nonetheless face a virtually unimaginable uphill battle. This battle will be additional sophisticated by the
celebrity and prominence of alleged perpetrators. Ask
Drew Dixon or
Rachelle Jenks about what’s at stake when a Black lady accuses a extensively beloved particular person of sexual violence. Then ask them whether or not they really feel believed or supported by the communities they think about residence.
At this very second, you may
still stream R. Kelly’s music on Spotify alongside 4.9 million month-to-month listeners. And whereas Kelly could have misplaced widespread public help, he had enablers alongside the best way — ranging
from major record label executives to
former Chicago police officers (characterizations these folks in query have denied). There are nonetheless individuals who imagine that R. Kelly shouldn’t be responsible of any wrongdoing. Throughout the trial, the protection workforce
maligned his accusers as manipulative, lascivious and fame-seeking. That characterization resonated with these hell-bent on believing the very best about Kelly and the worst about his accusers.
This verdict lastly confirmed what a few of us railed towards for years, what many enabled and what others suspected however selected to disregard. Whereas I’ll by no means low cost what resonates as “justice” to those that survived R. Kelly, it incenses me that it took practically three many years’ price of allegations for the prison authorized system to supply some semblance of accountability for the hurt this man precipitated. The truth is that for Black feminine victims of sexual violence, the prison authorized system will typically fail them, as could their communities. If something, this trial confirmed the steepness of the climb.
This case does not change the local weather wherein
almost half of Black girls expertise some type of sexual misconduct earlier than they flip 18. Sadly, I think we’re precisely the place we had been earlier than the trial commenced relating to how we deal with Black feminine victims of sexual violence. The absence of care and heat prevail.
Though the decision does not make me optimistic about the place we’re within the combat towards sexual violence, the organizers who’ve been doing this vital and tough work do. They construct upon an amazing legacy of Black girls resembling
Frances Thompson,
Celia,
Ida B. Wells,
Betty Jean Owens,
Rosa Parks,
Recy Taylor and
Jo Ann Robinson. Up to date Black anti-sexual violence activists and organizers know that the wrestle to finish sexual violence towards Black girls and women necessitates a complete reckoning with the devastating mixed results of patriarchy, anti-Blackness, sexism and
misogynoir.
So, whereas this verdict shouldn’t be a turning level, it may be a galvanizing second for individuals who need to be a part of the combat to finish sexual violence towards Black girls and women. Step one for a lot of of these new to this combat is coming to grips with the methods we collectively enabled sexual predation. We should decide to doing higher by being sincere about all of the methods we fail Black women and girls.
