Advocates say an R. Kelly verdict 'would not have happened' without campaigns for justice led by Black women

• R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges last month.
• After years of activism, social media campaigns and a documentary added to calls for justice.
• Experts tell Insider R. Kelly's case highlights the need for Me Too's racial reckoning in music.

R. Kelly, who married 15-year-old singer and actress Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 27, has faced countless allegations of sexual abuse that have been often been pushed aside, experts say.

Following the singer's conviction for racketeering and sex trafficking charges, victims advocates were quick to point out the verdict wouldn't have happened without Black women "bravely coming forward" to share their stories.

"Everything about this story is about Black women and girls. And it's never been about Robert Kelly," award-winning writer and cultural critic Jamilah Lemieux told Insider.

Now that Kelly's been convicted, Black communities are still reckoning with the decades-long cover up of the rapper's crimes, while Black woman advocates simultaneously push to ensure that Black girls and woman survivors are kept at the forefront of the cultural conversation and have the resources they need for healing.

Media, a documentary ignited momentum after years of activism

According to experts, the verdict sheds light on the systemic silencing of Black girls and the power of celebrity influence and is a reminder that Black women are also responsible "for bringing him to justice."

"American celebrity worship culture had a lot to do with R. Kelly's success and getting away with his crimes for as long as he did. And his music had a particular hold on Black America," Lemeiux told Insider.

Black women and girls have been advocates for one another, providing space to tell our stories. Treva Lyndsey, author

The verdict comes after decades of campaigning by former victims and their advocates, including a #MuteRKelly and #CancelRKelly movement.

Momentum against the singer ignited with the 2019 documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, premiering on Lifetime more than two years ago.

The televised docuseries told the stories of some survivors of Kelly's abuse - a cultural touchstone that many attribute to facilitating a guilty verdict, along with journalism and Black women's grassroots activism.

"Some of them, who were literal children when they were abused by this man, they've been pop culture punchlines for decades," Lemieux said. "And some of them still have the courage to tell their stories."

Kelly's case highlights the need for Me Too's racial reckoning

Black women have often been erased from social justice movements, including #MeToo - despite the fact that activist Tarana Burke, a Black woman, coined the phrase in 2007.

As with many others, Black women have been at the forefront, paving the way for political and culture change.

However, sometimes they've stood alone, as they did when trying to pursue justice for the Black girls who said they were assaulted by Kelly.

The singer's fan base is so large that protestors gathered outside of the courthouse on Monday advocating for his freedom while playing his music.

-Rashad Robinson (@rashadrobinson) September 29, 2021

Lemieux told Insider that idolization meant fans and the public refused to see the victims as young girls, part of a societal adultification of Black youth.

"We saw them as people who were willing, if not lucky, to be around a famous man who got what they signed up for," she said.

Despite the backlash, Treva Lindsey, author of the forthcoming book America, Goddamn: Violence, Black Women, and the Struggle for Justice, told Insider that "the phrase 'nobody cares about Black girls and women,'" often can overshadow "the way Black girls and women care about each other."

"Black women and girls have been advocates for one another, providing space to tell our stories, and have been unrelenting in pushing for recognition of the violence Black women and girls face, even when dealing with rebukes from within the Black community," she added.

Advocates fight to keep Black girls the focus after the verdict

The idolization of celebrities and famous pop culture contributors is exhibited by fans who refuse to look at celebrity flaws because of a love for their art (i.e. - the long-discussed controversy of 'separating the art from the artist').

Jameta Barlow, a community health psychologist and assistant professor of writing at The George Washington University, told Insider the verdict was achieved amid great odds despite that celebrity worship meaning rumors of R. Kelly's abuse that had been circling for decades were heavily downplayed.

Among the most challenging of these obstacles to justice, however, was the law itself.

"The laws have been different [for Black women]," Barlow told Insider. "We're never seen as fully American or fully human and therefore the subjugation of Black women happens over and over and over again," she added.

Lindsey said that the survivors of Kelly's abuse may feel a "more safe tonight than they ever had," but says the decades of legwork it took to arrive at a guilty verdict raises questions about how "willing we are to do the work so this is not possible again."

"It shows it's possible to hold someone accountable, but the work it took to get here is almost daunting," Lindsey said. "A lot of us are still processing what it will mean and how it reverberates, so I remain careful in my relief because as we speak a Black girl is being violated."

For many, R. Kelly's conviction is a stepping stone towards a "reckoning" in the industry, while others wouldn't be surprised if listeners turned his case into an example of an extreme one-off instance.

Lemiuex said she hopes R. Kelly's conviction can be the spark igniting change throughout the industry, calling the verdict an acknowledgment of " Black feminists' victory and Black women's pain."