When The Gavel Falls

So the verdict's in. R. Kelly, after several years of war with the state of Illinois, has been acquitted of statutory rape charges. He is a free man now and one who most likely will continue to kick out hits for as long as Black people will bear him [which will most likely be forever] A celebrity caught on videotape with an underage girl followed by testimony from multiple witnesses that Kelly had done this sort of thing before, going as far as engaging in three-ways other underage girls. But despite the orgy of evidence against him he walked, absolved most likely by writing the right checks to the right people. I even suspect that judge or jury tampering might be involved. But in the end it doesn't make a difference. It's a combination one-two punch of the jaws of the abused, and sets a precedent for the next big man to figure that he can skate too.

The only person that I wanted to see in cuffs more than R. Kelly was Kobe Bryant. I was never cool with the way Kobe broke down in that station house and gave up Shaq without being asked. But at least with Kobe there was only evidence of the one-time incident. With Kelly this was a way of life. For all we know most of his songs have been the diary of a sexual deviant [Someone I know loves using that word]. I shudder to think that that "Bump and Grind" remix that featured the line: "Show me some ID before I get knee deep into you" told me what I needed to know 15 years ago, even if I couldn't prove it.

Now before I even continue let me make it clear that my desire to see Kelly do time has nothing to do with his success as a musician and ability to make anything go through the roof. I give it up where giving it up is due. I'm against him because he is the face of a crime that goes on in our communities everyday. He is a souped up version of the grown men that made a habit out of loitering in front of my junior high school, men who would abandon the accidental children they created, men who denied transmitting diseases to girls who just wanted to be loved, etc. etc.

It's been interesting that while many sistas have been open about their anger towards the Kelly tape, most of the usual talking heads have been silent. No one made a recognized effort to boycott this man's music. No one tried to get the people of Chicago involved against him. It almost feels as if the community as a whole didn't think this case was even worth taking seriously, that R. Kelly was too big of a star to have to deal with something like this. And now he doesn't...anymore.

As I have two teenaged sisters I try to imagine what I would do were I to learn that some predator was...well you know. I think Guiness might be on the scene to capture the world's fastest murder. I think the same about my goddaughters and what I ever might do to anyone's son who fell into the business of all of this. The crazy thing is that Tim Russert's death seems to overshadow any national discourse involving the story. The poor bastard to leaked that tape in the first place has to be crying in his beer somewhere. But who knows what his reasons were.

I wanted for the generation behind me to see Kelly wedged into the back of a squad car, then then to catch years worth of images of him in prison blues. I wanted him to know what it feels like to be known as a molester on the inside. He would have been doing private shows of "Honey Love" for the duration of his sentence. I wanted my students to see that no one can be above the law all the time, that a career of doing dirt cames with the coffin to bury you in. But in the end the Pied Piper's story was for some reason not meant to be a cautionary tale. As I believe in God more than the law I know that he'll get his. I just hope it's sooner than later. Out.