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Below is a collective statement coming from all of us who are featured contributors in the new book Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood, about the recent acquittal of R.Kelly from child molestation child. In spite of what your local commercial radio station programmers may try to make you think, many of us are not happy. The R.Kelly verdict is indicative of a much larger problem plaguing our communities where women and their well being are either overlooked or not seen as important at all.
Yesterday (June 17th) on our daily Hard Knock Radio show tackled the issues surrounding the recent R.Kelly verdict. He is not getting a free pass and we offered up compelling reasons why.
The show featured guests like author/ professor Jelani Cobb, Chicago rapper Rhymefest, Center for Media Diversity's Malkia Cyrill, professor/ activist Dawn Elisa Fischer and media consultant Cheo Tyehimba
The show was very spirited with highlights coming from people like Rhymefest who questioned the role women play in flocking to an accused sexual predator like R. Kelley. He talked about how Kels would routinely show up and brazenly pick up young girls at local high schools in Chicago and because he was a superstar many adults turned their heads. He also said we should not expect large media conglomerates and record labels to do right be us and that at the end of the day R.Kelly needs to be given 'Village Justice'.
Malkia Cyrill talked about the role corporate media plays in pushing forth a money making agenda even if it causes harm to the audience and communities they are supposed to serve.
She brought into question how these constant assaults are often subconsciously adopted by young girls who are far too often victims to sexual exploitation and abuse
Jelani Cobb talked about the role men are supposed to play even if women are complicit in their own self destruction. In other words there's no excuse for us not stepping up and demanding better of the men who routinely exploit women.
Those are just the tip of the iceberg in this must here radio conversation.
Davey D
Statement of Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women
by the contributors to the book
Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood
Six years have gone by since we first heard the allegations that R.
Kelly had filmed himself having sex with an underage girl. During that time we have seen the videotape being hawked on street corners in Black communities, as if the dehumanization of one of our own was not at stake. We have seen entertainers rally around him and watched his career reach new heights despite the grave possibility that he had molested and urinated on a 13-year old girl. We saw African Americans purchase millions of his records despite the long history of such charges swirling around the singer. Worst of all, we have witnessed the sad vision of Black people cheering his acquittal with a fervor usually reserved for community heroes and shaken our heads at the stunning lack of outrage over the verdict in the broader Black community.
Over these years, justice has been delayed and it has been denied. Perhaps a jury can accept R. Kelly's absurd defense and find "reasonable doubt" despite the fact that the film was shot in his home and featured a man who was identical to him. Perhaps they doubted that the young woman in the courtroom was, in fact, the same person featured in the ten year old video. But there is no doubt about this: some young Black woman was filmed being degraded and exploited by a much older Black man, some daughter of our community was left unprotected, and somewhere another Black woman is being molested, abused or raped and our callous handling of this case will make it that much more difficult for her to come forward and be believed. And each of us is responsible for it.
We have proudly seen the community take to the streets in defense of Black men who have been the victims of police violence or racist attacks, but that righteous outrage only highlights the silence surrounding this verdict.
We believe that our judgment has been clouded by celebrity-worship; we believe that we are a community in crisis and that our addiction to sexism has reached such an extreme that many of us cannot even recognize child molestation when we see it.
We recognize the absolute necessity for Black men to speak in a single, unified voice and state something that should be absolutely obvious: that the women of our community are full human beings, that we cannot and will not tolerate the poisonous hatred of women that has already damaged our families, relationships and culture.
We believe that our daughters are precious and they deserve our protection. We believe that Black men must take responsibility for our contributions to this terrible state of affairs and make an effort to change our lives and our communities.
This is about more than R. Kelly's claims to innocence. It is about our survival as a community. Until we believe that our daughters, sisters, mothers, wives and friends are worthy of justice, until we believe that rape, domestic violence and the casual sexism that permeates our culture are absolutely unacceptable, until we recognize that the first priority of any community is the protection of its young, we will remain in this tragic dead-end.
We ask that you:
1_Sign your name if you are a Black male who supports this statement:
http://www. petitiononline. com/rkelly/petition. html
2-Forward this statement to your entire network and ask other Black males to sign as well
3-Make a personal pledge to never support R.
Kelly again in any form or fashion, unless he publicly apologizes for his behavior and gets help for his long-standing sexual conduct, in his private life and in his music
4-Make a commitment in your own life to never to hit, beat, molest, rape, or exploit Black females in any way and, if you have, to take ownership for your behavior, seek emotional and spiritual help, and, over time, become a voice against all forms of Black female exploitation
5-Challenge other Black males, no matter their age, class or educational background, or status in life, if they engage in behavior and language that is exploitative and or disrespectful to Black females in any way. If you say nothing, you become just as guilty.
6-Learn to listen to the voices, concerns, needs, criticisms, and challenges of Black females, because they are our equals, and because in listening we will learn a new and different kind of Black manhood
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