For
years, decades even, allegations swirled that R&B superstar R. Kelly was abusing young women and girls, with seeming impunity.
They
were mostly young Black women. And Black girls.
And
that, say accusers and others who have called for him to face accountability,
is part of what took the wheels of the criminal justice system so long to turn,
finally leading to his conviction Monday in his sex trafficking trial. That it
did at all, they say, is also due to the efforts of Black women, unwilling to
be forgotten.
Speaking
out against sexual assault and violence is fraught for anyone who attempts it.
Those who work in the field say the hurdles facing Black women and girls are
raised even higher by a society that hypersexualizes them from a young age,
stereotyping them as promiscuous and judging their physiques, and in a country
with a history of racism and sexism that has long denied their autonomy over
their own bodies.
“Black
women have been in this country for a long time and ... our bodies were never
ours to begin with,” said Kalimah Johnson, executive director of the SASHA
Center in Detroit, which provides services to sexual assault survivors.
“No
one allows us to be something worthy of protection,” she said. “A human that
needs love, and sacredness.” It’s as if, she said, “there’s nothing sacred
about a Black woman’s body.”
In
a 2017 study from the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, adults
were asked about their perceptions of Black girls in comparison with white
girls of the same age in terms of their needs for nurturing and protection, as
well as their knowledge of adult topics like sex.
At
all ages, Black girls were perceived as more adult than white girls, needing
less protection and knowing more about sex. The gap was widest between Black
and white for girls between the ages of 10 and 14, followed by girls between
the ages of 5 and 9.
“We
don’t value Black girls, and they are dehumanized, and they are also blamed for
the sexual violence that they experienced to a greater extent than white girls
are,” said Rebecca Epstein, executive director of the center and one of the
study’s authors.
By AP
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