The R. Kelly case has been on the lookout for several years, and it’s still being investigated to this day. He has been targeted by the media and different people nationwide about the sexual assault cases he has been accused of taking effect in. Mainly he is being targeted because he is a black man in the United States, who has been sexually assaulting women since 2008. The media hasn’t given enough attention to it, and the reason why mainly is probably because they know black women are easily targeted and sexually assaulted today. Stats state that every 1 in 4 black girls, will be sexually assaulted before they turn 18.
The media wants us to give attention to the R.Kelly case, but not focus solely on him. They want us to know that there are “R.Kelly’s” everywhere, whether you work with them, you pass by one on a daily basis, or they could be in your family/friend groups and you wouldn’t even know it. In addition to this, black women are the main targets for not just being sexually assaulted or abused, but also being involved in sexual violence. Ever since enslavement has taken place years ago, people think that it’s an end to it. Little do some people know, that enslavement involving black women still happen today with little notice from the media.
More and more people now are starting to be involved and learn more about the #MeToo movement, but individuals don’t want to speak out as much because they think their abuser will find out about it and will interfere with their peace. People also don’t have the courage to speak up or call the police to further solve it because they feel as if their voice won’t be heard, and the police won’t believe their case due to not having enough evidence or witnesses.
I think that R-Kelly and the people that enabled him for all those years should go to prison. There were so many people that just let R-Kelly do what he wanted to those girls and it’s so sick. That’s really upsetting that 1 in 4 black girls will be sexually assaulted before they turn 18.
We discussed the concept of the “tipping point” of society coming around to seeing these private problems as public issues. You raise the problem of the survivor who is worried about going public, for good reason. I wonder if there will be a further tipping point some day when the survivor does not have to worry about their abuser.
I find this interesting because things with R. Kelly have been going on for a long time. Jokes and memes have been trending on this topic for a long time, and seeing things about him growing up, that’s always what it seemed to be, a big joke. I first heard about this watching the Boondocks on TV. The episode make fun of the R.Kelly case, and is somewhat accurate to what is finally happening today. I agree it is no surprise how things turned out, but it is unfortunate that something so serious is joked about, and used for entertainment purposes when real life people are suffering from it today.