“The Boondocks” second episode of its first season titled “The Trial of Robert Kelly” cleverly and with its usual dip of satire explored R. Kelly’s trial of him peeing on an underage girl. The episode shows how the black community stood with blind loyalty for a man whose voice has bounced off the walls of churches, graduations, black cookouts and times of moral support. When the artist they have loved for years has been accused of something viler than the act of taking away a life — child pornography — they resent with the accusation of “America urinated on R. Kelly,” or America bringing down another prominent black man. Allegations that have plagued this country since the first slave boats touched the coasts of America.
The new documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which was produced by Dream Hampton, investigates the 20 years of R. Kelly’s predatory behaviors in his relations with young teenage girls and his control over women in his life. It has stirred mass cries of disgust and shock that a predator could be lurking in the music industry without any consequences or prison time. In the documentary, family, friends, victims, musicians and many others give their accounts of Kelly’s immoral sexual desires. The documentary explored how many stood by and even helped Kelly continue to fill his sexual appetite. He controlled his own wife, Andrea Kelly, to the point where she could not leave her room or go anywhere without his permission. A huge story of the time was his relationship with Aaliyah, who was a rising star that met Kelly when she was 12 and married at age 15.
His music captivated black people from coast to coast, but when they denied his sickening desires it revealed an ugly truth in the black community: how blind black loyalty helps silence and disregard black women. Kelly’s musical genius is like Bill Cosby’s comedy as both have had a profound effect on the lives of millions of black people. Their allegations made black people not feel betrayed, but angry that their heroes are being stripped of their glory while other powerful white men get to run free. When the black community should be stripping their ties with these men, their love of them grow stronger. They worship these men as deities who can never do us wrong. It brings confusion and frustration that the black community could rally behind a man like R. Kelly who has traumatized the same people who support him.
My generation has grown up with his music filling every black space from our graduations to movies. We have always known about his attraction for young women but have let the spiritual connection with his music overcome what is ethical. When these black women boldly face a man who many worship the ground he stands upon, his followers degrade them, upset they are taking away the only hope black people have in this world at the expense of the dignity of black women.
At the end of the “Boondocks” episode, Huey is at fault with the black community not making R. Kelly accountable for his actions, but he digresses: “I admit that I’m often vexed at the behavior of my own people. You do what you can to help black folks, and they make you wonder why you even bother. But they’re our people, and we got to love them regardless.”
Kamal Morgan, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at KMorgan20@wooster.edu.