What Justine Damond and R. Kelly Can Teach Us About Blackness and Innocence

Nareissa's Notes
Jul 27, 2017 · 4 min read

One is a blonde, blue-eyed Australian woman fatally shot down weeks before her wedding. The other is an African American man from Chicago known for pursing musical success and underage girls with equal enthusiasm.

At first blush, it might seem that the two have little in common. However, each news story proves that race and gender distort our view of who should be considered “innocent” in our society.

Justine Damond

Justine Damond called the police because she thought she heard a woman being attacked near her home. When the police arrived, Ms. Damond, unarmed and wearing pajamas, was shot and killed. Robert Bennett, the attorney for Ms. Damond’s family, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that Ms. Damond was “the most innocent victim” of police brutality shooting he had ever seen.

I do not object to Mr. Bennett’s statement. By all accounts, Ms. Damond was innocent. However, I do object to the fact that Black victims of violence are almost never referred to as innocent.

When a Black person is killed, the victim’s transgressions — whether serious or trivial — are laid bare for all to see. People reach for these facts as if to say, “Aha! This guy was a thug! It’s a good thing the police got him!” The sad part is that it doesn’t take much to reach this point because, in America, there is a constant presumption against Black innocence.

R. Kelly

Robert Kelly’s transgressions against young women began with his marriage to 15-year-old singer Aaliyah in 1994. After tapes surfaced showing him violating a young girl, he was charged with child pornography and later acquitted. Last week, allegations surfaced that Kelly had been holding young women in a cult-like environment.

Despite decades of allegations against Kelly, last week, many Black men rushed to defend him. “What kind of girl goes to a singer’s room at night?” “He’s no worse than Hugh Hefner!” “She was young, but she knew what she was doing!”

As I listened to these feeble defenses, I could only think of how they were subtle (and not so subtle) ways of not only defending the perpetrator, but blaming the victim. But the reaction was not entirely surprising because in America, when a woman is raped, she is rarely considered innocent. Indeed, in this country, a woman’s morality is judged by her sexual past.

The Common Thread

The Justine Damond story illustrates society’s reluctance to view Black people as innocent. R. Kelly’s story demonstrates society’s failure to view women as innocent. Sadly, when these beliefs combine, Black women are the least likely to be considered innocent, especially when the crime is rape and the perpetrator is a Black man.

Black men forcefully object when police victims are demonized — particularly Black males. Nevertheless, these same Black men vilify Black women that accuse Black men of rape. Ironically, the attacks they thrown at these women are identical to those aimed at the victims of police brutality. Saying, “He shouldn’t have worn that hoodie,” is the same as saying “She shouldn’t have been wearing that skirt.” Saying, “He should have listened to the officer,” is no different than saying, “She should’ve known what she was getting into.” Dredging up the criminal record of a male police brutality victim is degrading and unnecessary, but discussing a rape victim’s sexual history is equally so.

These dismissive Black male attitudes are particularly problematic because Black women are more likely to experience rape than white women, Asian women, or Latinas. Sadly, these macho attitudes likely explain why for every sixteen Black women that are raped, only one will report her attack.

When Black men fail to see sexism, Black women are left without one of our most important allies. Therefore, when Black women suffer sexual violence, we suffer alone. Because we suffer alone, we do not get the support and respect that we need and deserve.

Obviously, not all Black men defend those that harm Black women. I am heartened by the number of Black men who have denounced R. Kelly, Bill Cosby, and other men accused of crimes against Black women. But the thousands of holdouts prevent real progress on this issue. I encourage the Black men who have been challenging their brothers to keep the conversation going because it is an important first step.

Black women carry the weight of racism and sexism. It would be wonderful if Black men helped to alleviate our burdens rather than adding to them.

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/racelawprof/2017/07/what-justine-damond-and-r-kelly-can-teach-us-about-blackness-and-innocence-.html


Originally published at lawprofessors.typepad.com.

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