blackbirdsdeadnights:

R.Kelly, Pedophilia, and Black girls.

So, like many, I just finished watching the first part of Surviving R. Kelly. Now, I’m old enough to remember the whole Aaliyah secret relationship and marriage. That girl was 15 and this almost 30 year old man married her. Was nothing wrong with that picture that he hasn’t been put in jail? And her parents deny it all, probably because Kelly paid Aaliyah off to never press charges and it probably extends to her parents, so they just keep denying, but no guy is marrying a woman without ever sleeping with her; least, not this man. I don’t believe her parents when they say nothing happened. Yes, I’m sure they don’t want to defile her memory, but let’s not lie because that defiles it much more.

There’s a problem in Hollywood, where adults are sexually harassing each other, but also grooming, sexually abusing, and whatever else with kids. And it’s all normal. Woody Allen married his adopted daughter after grooming her for years. Elvis married a teenager. Prince quietly “dated” a girl until she was old enough to marry. Like, wtf? Even Drake is grooming a 14/15 year old girl (Millie Bobbie Brown from Stranger Things) and people are like, they’re just friends, that’s what they said. Well, of fucking course that’s what they’re going to say. R. Kelly was mum about the underage relationship he was having, too. They’re rarely going to come out and say, “yes, we are dating” and end his career, maybe, and have a million people blaming MBB because that exactly what will happen. That she should have known better. No, the 30+ year old guy should have known better.

An interesting point was brought up during the documentary, that this all went so unnoticed and unpunished because it was targeting minority girls, mostly black girls. We all know there’s literally a term for the media that ignores minorities and white people, especially white females, are the focus. It’s called Missing White Women Syndrome. Their story will be on the news for months, their cases not being closed for years and years, but a minority might get a few days in the news, if the case even makes it there in the first place. Very often, the minority victim is considered a runaway and the case is closed. All these black girls were being abused and taken advantage of and no one said a word, it didn’t get national attention, it was in the news a few times over the years, but would vanish just as quickly. While R. Kelly remained untouched. This guy even has video evidence against him and, somehow, he was still able to walk free? It’s mind-boggling. Black girls deserve better.

Remember, not too long ago, young black girls were going missing at an alarming rate. It was in the news, maybe, a week and you haven’t heard anything else about it since. However, we still hear things in the news about Elizabeth Smart, a young, white girl who was kidnapped years and years ago. She’s since been rescued, is married, and has a decent life. At the exact same time she was being looked for, a young black girl was kidnapped and she escaped, thankfully. Her story was a blip on the screen for a day or two. Yet, they literally followed ES from her rescue to how she’s doing to this very day. How is her story revisited or brought up all this time later, yet an unsolved mystery about a bunch of missing black girls hasn’t been heard about since the week it was happening? What’s going on with the little black girl who escaped? Is she okay? What affect did it have on her? We haven’t gotten even a little follow up. Media has bias and, unfortunately, black girls suffer. We go missing and we get a day or two. If we aren’t found, you’re considered a runaway or you just skipped town; your case is closed. I literally just watched news a few weeks ago where they got new evidence in a case about a missing white woman who went missing in the early 80s. Why has she not just been considered a runaway or believed to have skipped town or pronounced dead, at this point? Her case was still open in 2018 and they’re still working on it? Not to say they shouldn’t, but why do black women not get the same level of thought and investigation?

It sickens me to know R. Kelly has gotten to do all this and, most likely, continues to, and very little was said until this documentary. I want all women to get a voice, but I’m glad black women, a story that’s mainly about black women, is getting told and being heard because we are often the last to be believed, the last to be heard, the last to have a champion behind us. Like, remember, Harvey Weinstein didn’t comment on any of his allegations to say he didn’t do them, UNTIL Lupita Nyong’o came forward and he immediately spoke out to say it didn’t happen. The only difference between her and his other accusers were that they were all nonblack and she was black. If that doesn’t tell you something about how little black women are taken seriously or allowed to simply be women, I’m not sure what else will. We can’t even have pain and be victims, apparently. And media backs that thought every day and had since the start. Let’s not fail these black women, let’s not let other black girls be victims because society refuses to see us as humans, deserving of every human emotion and interaction as anyone else. Don’t dismiss our pain because of racism, because that is racism.