Correct me if I’m wong, but wasn’t R. Kelly dragged to trial on charges he peed on and had sex with a 13-year-old? On tape? And wasn’t he the one who convinced R&B beauty Aaliyah to marry him at the tender age of 17—when he’d long been a grown man? And haven’t rumors of the Pied Piper of R&B having an appetite for under age girls been flying for years?
Then riddle me this, Batman: Why is it that every time R. Kelly so much as swallows his spit, black folks jump out of their seats and get all Beatles-style groupie on us—waving lighters in the air and singing his songs at the top of their lungs and screaming and crying tears of pure, unadulterated bliss? Can somebody—anybody—help me understand? Because I’m absolutely c.o.n.f.u.s.e.d. by it all.
Then riddle me this, Batman: Why is it that every time R. Kelly so much as swallows his spit, black folks jump out of their seats and get all Beatles-style groupie on us—waving lighters in the air and singing his songs at the top of their lungs and screaming and crying tears of pure, unadulterated bliss? Can somebody—anybody—help me understand? Because I’m absolutely c.o.n.f.u.s.e.d. by it all.
As the mother of two young daughters, I can’t in good conscience buy R. Kelly records/listen to R. Kelly songs/go to R.Kelly concerts/watch R. Kelly videos and TV performances/support him in any kind of way with my mind, actions, thoughts, ears, and especially money, knowing that there is even a remote possibility that he pees on and has sex with teenagers for amusement. And sorry, but I can’t even begin to understand how we as a collective can bump his music and cheer him on. Did you see the audience at the 2010 Soul Train Music Awards last week? Folks were damn-near jumping on chairs—stilettos and tight dresses and tuxes and all—with grand amounts of glee as he sang a medley of his old and new hits.
It put me in the mind of this scene in “The Trial of R. Kelly,” an episode of the satirical cartoon The Boondocks. That Aaron McGruder—so subversive. So smart. So spot on. Witness:
Question: Isn’t it our duty to stand up for little black girls? Shouldn’t we be rallying against the very people who put our babies in harm’s way—or, worse, do them harm? When will we stand up as a collective and say, “Your fancy lawyer may have gotten you out of a helluva mess, but you don’t get to abuse young girls and keep eating off my support.” Like The Boondocks' Huey said: “What happened to standards? What happened to bare minimum?”
Yeah, yeah—you can argue the whole “let those without sin cast the first stone” and the “to forgive is divine” stuff all you want to. But how do you go about forgiving someone who refuses to acknowledge he did anything wrong? And, more importantly, does a short absence from the radio and awards shows mean you should forget?
I think not.
Stop letting ignorance win.
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