What Does R. Kelly Have to Do with Workplace Culture? And What Does It Have to Do with *Me*?
By now you’ve heard that R. Kelly was convicted last week of all charges against him, including racketeering and sex trafficking. Many of the stories around the conviction note that we’ve had decades of sexual assault allegations against him, but this was the first to stick.
Lesson 1: His Bad Acts Were Enabled by A Culture that Deprioritizes Black Women and Girls.
It’s easy to think the R. Kelly verdict is far removed from our own lives, that he alone was the bad actor. In a recent op-ed, Pr. Kimberle Crenshaw explains that R. Kelly was able to prey on Black women and girls precisely because across our culture, we take Black women and girls for granted, we allow them to be sexualized and/or undervalued. As Pr. Crenshaw points out, change is slow, and his conviction reflects a change in culture, built on #MuteRKelly, the movement sparked by Kenyette Tisha Barnes and Oronike Odeleye, as well as Dream Hampton’s documentary, “Surviving R. Kelly,” and what may be a lasting effort at successfully holding powerful men accountable for their sexual violence.
For that reckoning to last, and for us to create long-term safety for Black women and girls (and when Black women and girls are protected, all others will be as well), we have to (a) understand what in our culture allows this to happen in the first place, and (b) question our instincts that don’t protect Black women and girls, and (c) redirect our behaviors for the better. I’m suggesting some changes that apply in the workplace.
Kelly’s victims were women and girls who are discredited in criminal justice settings (note the juror quoted in Surviving R. Kelly, who said after serving on Kelly's child pornography trial, "I just didn’t believe them, the women. I know it sounds ridiculous. The way they dress, the way they act — I didn’t like them. I voted against. I disregarded all of what they said."). The system set R. Kelly up for successful abuse of Black women and girls.
Black girls in grades K - 12 are 7 times more likely to be suspended from school and 4 times more likely to be arrested on school campus.
Adults have less empathy for Black girls than their white peers, who are viewed as more innocent and in need of protection and comforting.
As Tressie McMillan Cottom put it, "women generally are not considered reliable subjects in the criminal justice system," and additional scrutiny is placed on Black women.
Lesson #2: R. Kelly Being Held Accountable Is Good, But We Should Question How The Culture That Enabled Him Is Present at Work, Too.
If this is the context in our culture, how does it connect to our behaviors in the workplace?
When it comes to workplace harassment, we don't believe women. According to Deborah Epstein, the heart of the workplace harassment problem is "our reflexive inclination to discount the credibility of women, especially when those women are recounting experiences of abuse perpetrated by more powerful men." She notes that gender-based credibility discounting is also racialized, and Black women experience an additional layer to overcome.
In Professor Crenshaw's words, "[i]n a just world, Mr. Kelly’s conviction would herald a transformative moment in the treatment of Black women and girls in our society. This story would be about more than a once-untouchable entertainer’s fall from grace."
Lesson 3: Ask Ourselves How We Can Make Change at Work
We’re often asked by individuals - what does it mean for me to do the work? How can I do better? It starts with a desire to do something difficult, and acknowledge where we’ve done harm in the past, recognize that we don’t get it right every time and will mess up again in the future, but that we won’t let it stop us from doing the work. Let’s not squander this opportunity. Instead, let's pause and identify tangible actions we as individuals can do to apply the cultural shift that made the R. Kelly conviction possible to needed change at work.:
Empathize to understand and identify your own blind spots: understand the experience of Black women in the workplace, create awareness of your own biases by comparing your thoughts about their experience with their words about their experience.
Evaluate your pay practices at work. For every dollar a white man earns, a Black woman earns only 63 cents. Conduct a pay equity analysis and implement the changes needed to compensate everyone consistently for the work they do.
Evaluate your own leadership and how you do – or do not – empower Black women at work. According to the research of Professor Salwa Rahim-Dillard, 89% of white leaders (manager level and above) severely lacked the ability to bridge and authentically connect with people who were different from them. Use her leadership self-assessment to ask yourself the hard questions about your own leadership.
Engaging in self-assessment and change is a personal action we can all take to ensure that in our workplaces we are shifting the culture to create a more inclusive environment, one that equitably pays our Black female colleagues and better understands their perspectives. It’s past time.
