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OUTSIDE R. KELLY TRIAL, DEBATE RAGES

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OUTSIDE R. KELLY TRIAL, DEBATE RAGES
 
FANS AND ACTIVISTS AT ODDS, MIRRORING LARGER DIVISIONS

 

By Kayce T. Ataiyero | Tribune reporter
10:04 PM CDT, May 11, 2008

 

 The debate simmered outside R. Kelly’s child pornography trial last week. Fans fiercely defended the popular R&B singer, while a handful of detractors railed at him.

Their opposing views of Kelly—as either a star wrongly accused or a sex criminal—mirrored a debate that has resurfaced in the black community, where Kelly’s fame, the nature of the charges against him, and larger questions about celebrity, sex and race have put some onlookers at odds before the evidence is even heard.

“R. Kelly is a pedophile. Lock him up,” Dwight Taylor of Gary chanted into a bullhorn, riling the crowd of about 30 or so people who had gathered to watch Kelly make his entrance into the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.

“Free R. Kelly!” some of his supporters shot back.

Kelly, 41, is accused of taping himself having sex with a girl who prosecutors say may have been as young as 13 at the time. Kelly has denied any wrongdoing, and the girl, now in her 20s, has consistently denied that it is her on the tape.

Jury selection began Friday and continues on Monday.

The snail’s pace of the case—it has gone through six years of legal wrangling—the black community’s skepticism about the justice system and the prolific career Kelly has had in the interim may have led some to overlook the allegations against him, observers say.

Black activist Najee Ali is among those disturbed by the lack of outrage surrounding the case. Since 2002, Ali, executive director of Project Islamic HOPE, a civil rights organization based in Los Angeles, has tried to rally the black community to condemn Kelly.

On Friday, Ali and Taylor were the two lone voices speaking out against the singer. They carried signs that read: “R. Kelly. World’s Greatest Pedophile,” a play on one of the singer’s songs.

Ali is used to being outnumbered.

“This has been the loneliest fight I have ever been in,” Ali said last September as he was gearing up to protest, before the trial was once again delayed. “You would have thought we would have had an outpouring of support. We are outnumbered by his supporters, probably by 10-1.”

Some of the support Kelly has enjoyed throughout the case is rooted in the black community’s reluctance to publicly chastise one of its own, observers said. Kelly isn’t the first high-profile black man to continue to win community support despite being accused of a sex offense. When boxer Mike Tyson faced charges of raping a black beauty contestant, his popularity in the black community remained strong.

Katheryn Russell-Brown, author of “Protecting Our Own: Race, Crime and African Americans,” said that when a black male celebrity is accused of a serious crime, the community’s instinct to protect him kicks in. Mistrust of the legal system and the notion that black men often face discrimination cause the community to close ranks around them, she said. “We have mad love for our superstars, people who have made it out, and we rally to support them,” Russell-Brown said.

“People see the allegations and say they are out to get him, to bring another black man down,” she said. “We are also concerned about what this means for the community. O.J. [Simpson], Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Michael Vick—if they can be hung out to dry, so can we.”

Instead of scrutinizing the men, observers say, the actions and motivations of the women involved have been dissected, often placing the responsibility for the scandal on the alleged victim. Though the girl in question may have been underage, analysts said, some in the larger society have the perception that sex with a teenager is not so offensive as sex with a much younger child.

Mark Anthony Neal, an African-American studies professor at Duke University, said he was disappointed over the community’s continued support of Kelly.

“Our ability to continue to go see his concerts and buy his music gives him the impression that he doesn’t have to face consequences, at least in the black community,” Neal said. “The fear of airing our dirty laundry didn’t allow folks to really rally around this thing. If this had been Justin Timberlake, the reaction would have been very, very different.”

But Bakari Kitwana, a hip-hop scholar and artist-in-residence at the University of Chicago, said it would be premature to judge Kelly before he has been tried, a mistake he said was made with Michael Jackson with disastrous consequences for his career. “At what point is the art separated from the reality? Does it make his art now irrelevant because he’s got this other problem going on?” Kitwana asked. “If we find out some crazy stuff about Michelangelo, what do we do about his ‘David’? Should we tear it down?”

Keyonia Jones, a 23-year-old Kelly supporter, said the singer’s reputation should not be tarnished by a case in which the girl says she was not victimized. “I don’t see that there’s a victim. She is denying that that’s her on the tape,” she said.

Cynthia Neal Spence, associate professor of sociology at Spelman College in Atlanta, said there is a perception long held by the larger society that, in cases of sexual impropriety, it is the responsibility of the woman to prevent the behavior. Also, pervasive images of hypersexual women in entertainment have caused many to be desensitized, she said.

“There’s not a lot of difference between [what is on the tape] and what is on BET [Black Entertainment Television]” in people’s minds, Spence said, adding that the sexual nature of images in music videos makes it more difficult for people to discern what is actual pornography.

“The standards have been lowered in terms of what is appropriate. I think pop culture has created fertile ground for the degradation of women,” Spence said.

Back at the courthouse, Ali made a similar argument to three young women who came out to support Kelly.

After a few minutes, one of the women, Jerhonda Johnson, 18, of Streamwood, said both sides would just have to agree to disagree.

“You got your opinions about this and we got ours. We can go on forever about this,” she said. “The jury will let us know what’s up.”

kataiyero@tribune.com

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

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