{"id":77165,"date":"2019-03-06T18:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=77165"},"modified":"2019-03-08T20:08:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-09T02:08:16","slug":"r-kelly-indictment-sparks-important-conversations-among-chicagoans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/r-kelly-indictment-sparks-important-conversations-among-chicagoans\/","title":{"rendered":"R. Kelly indictment sparks sexual violence conversations among Chicagoans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Nora Mabie<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Students, educators and community members came together this month to discuss sexual violence against black women and girls at the Pop-Up JUST Art Gallery, a program of the Social Justice Initiative at University of Illinois at Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>Recent charges of sexual abuse against R&amp;B singer R. Kelly ignited the meeting and discussion, part of UIC\u2019s Reimagining Masculinities Initiative and hosted by other UIC cultural engagement centers.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nAlthough sexual allegations against Kelly go back to 1994, when he married a 15-year-old girl, a six-part documentary series, \u201cSurviving R. Kelly,\u201d detailed sexual abuse allegations against the 52-year-old performer and aired on Lifetime in January. Following the documentary series, Kelly was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse on Feb. 22 in Cook County. After spending three nights in Cook County Jail, the singer posted $100,000 bail Tuesday and plead not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n<p>The group convened to reflect on personal experiences with sexual violence, look critically at sexual abuse in the black community and discuss ways in which people can support black women and girls.<\/p>\n<p>Many in the group shared frustration over how peers talked about the singer\u2019s indictment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo many people say they try to separate the artist from his actions,\u201d said Prevail Bonga, a freshman at UIC, adding that many people use this excuse to continue to listen to his songs. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t work because many of his songs are about his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group discussed how families with different religious and cultural backgrounds often avoid teaching children about sexual violence and how many people do not feel comfortable talking to each other about sexual abuse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe, as women, learned at a young age to keep (instances of sexual violence) to ourselves,\u201d said Miya Taylor, a senior at UIC.\u00a0 \u201cWe are policing ourselves and that is not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many people said they had experienced sexual abuse but did not know how to tell someone about it when it happened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe spend a lot of time together,\u201d said Keisa Reynolds, assistant project director of the Women\u2019s Leadership and Research Center, who helped plan the event. \u201cBut we don\u2019t actually get to know each other as individuals, and our silence is part of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Participants also commented on how Kelly\u2019s status as a celebrity is often equated with women automatically giving him consent \u2013 a concept that President Donald Trump reinforced when he was caught on tape referring to inappropriately touching women. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>Many expressed frustration with the rhetoric surrounding sexual violence and advocated for bystanders to assert themselves when they see or hear of situations of abuse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to hold the people in our own circles accountable for their actions,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n<div>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/r-kelly-denies-sexual-abuse-allegations-in-explosive-interview-2019-03-05\/\">exclusive interview<\/a> that aired Wednesday, Kelly grew emotional and combative as he told Gayle King, co-host of &#8220;CBS This Morning,&#8221; that the allegations against him are lies.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cYou can start a rumor on a guy like me or a celebrity just like that,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cAll you have to do is push a button on your phone and say: \u2018So and so did this to me. R. Kelly did this to me.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>After a hearing on Wednesday, Kelly is back in custody for not paying $161,000 in child support to Andrea Kelly, his ex-wife.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Participants brainstormed ways to stand up for black women and girls. (Nora Mabie\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nora Mabie Medill Reports Students, educators and community members came together this month to discuss sexual violence against black women and girls at the Pop-Up JUST Art Gallery, a program of the Social Justice Initiative at University of Illinois at Chicago. Recent charges of sexual abuse against R&amp;B singer R. Kelly ignited the meeting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":544,"featured_media":77168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,452,28,30,675,4559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-winter-2019"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>R. 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