This attitude can be traced back to enslavement, when Black women were property. This silencing was ingrained in the culture. Rape wasn’t condoned, but if it were to happen, God forbid, then I’d have to acknowledge my role in it. I am a part of the generation of young girls who grew into women while living in fear that any behavior - a low cut shirt, shorts above the knee, red lipstick, kissing a boy under the street lights - were invitations to rape and sexual assault. This case made the Me Too movement real for around-the-way girls, girls on the streets.”

“So many Black women saw themselves in the young girls he preyed upon. Monday’s verdict “was about the everyday Black girl,” Anthony said. And they do so because often their feelings of guilt overshadow their pain.Īlthough Me Too was started by Tarana Burke, a Black woman with Philadelphia ties, the movement was centered around women in the workplace. These girls are secretly fondled by uncles, groped by security guards, or hemmed up by their pastors. Unfortunately, many Black girls fall through the cracks, said LaQuisha Anthony, a sexual assault survivor and founder of V.O.I.C.E., a Philadelphia-based sexual abuse and survivors network. On Monday, the R&B singer - born Robert Sylvester Kelly - was convicted on nine counts, including racketeering and eight violations of a sex-trafficking law.Īccording to Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), only one in three women report rape and sexual abuse. How could we not see we were a part of the problem? The lyrics reduced women - Black women - to sexual objects. All the while, a heavy rotation of Kelly songs like “You Remind Me of My Jeep” and “Ignition” played loudly in our cars, at clubs, and during our workouts. But then he smiled and blamed the girl: “She had to be a freak.”Īnd then we just moved on. “Oh, that’s just messed up,” said a guy I was dating after he’d seen Kelly’s deplorable behavior.

Kelly videotape that showed the Grammy-winning singer allegedly urinating on a young girl made its way through the Black community 20 years ago in barbershops and salons.

R kelly you remind me of my jeep