The Adultification of Black Girls

Why didn’t anybody notice? Well, everybody did notice, but nobody cared because we were black girls.

Few docuseries have captivated me as much as Surviving R. Kelly. He was invisible in plain sight. He destroyed girls and we are all guilty.

The silence, unconcern and lack of sympathy for Black girls and women when they are sexually assaulted is shocking but unsurprising. It is unsurprising because thousands of years of scientific racism (looking at you Immanuel Kant) has allowed for a general societal consensus that black females develop quicker, are more sexual and are somehow dirty. Many young black women do not know life without sexual violence. 

The adults around these young girls were silent. Some say this was the worst part. They felt Kelly was wrong, but turned their heads or walked away. That silence turned into complicity. 

The most public example of his monstrosity (I believe) happened early in his career. My immediate reaction to R. Kelly when he illegally married then 15-year-old R&B singer Aaliyah (Miss Age Is Just A Number), was nausea. She was a child. Later, Kelly would spark joy in kids' souls with his song I Believe I Can Fly, in the 1996 film Space Jam. He hung out outside high schools and in malls; he was a real Pied Piper.

Kelly himself was a victim of childhood sexual abuse and grew up in the projects. I note this because it is a historical fact, not because I think it excuses urinating in a child's mouth. 

My main takeaway from this six part series is that Black girls and women are not given personhood, value or respect in our society. Racism and misogyny have collided to create unique experiences for Black girls and women. It is also unsurprising that so few Black girls and women report sexual assault. As a society, we're much more concerned with them being "fast" than we are with the men who prey on them.