Black Women are ready to be on the record about sexual violence

This week on the 'Dear Culture' podcast, theGrio’s Shana Pinnock and Mariel Turner sit down to discuss the very concerning issue of sexual violence against Black women

Sundus Hassan

Jul 2, 2020

As coronavirus rages in many states and our communities demand justice and equity for the Black lives lost to police brutality, the times feel like they’re flipped upside down. Entering week five of protests, the Dear Culture podcast is changing gears to focus on another trying and pertinent issue in our community: sexual harassment and violence.

This May, HBO Max dropped the bombshell documentary On the Record, detailing more than 20 allegations of sexual misconduct against the co-founder of Def Jam, Russell Simmons.

This week, theGrio’s Social Media Director Shana Pinnock and Senior Editor Mariel Turner sit down to discuss the very concerning issue of sexual violence Black women face with Black men. The Dear Culture hosts ask the question: “Dear Culture, whose voices aren’t we listening to?”

“I didn’t tell that many people what happened with Russell. And I was saying no,” says Drew Dixon, one of Simmons’ accusers, in On the Record.

The veracity of the documentary has been called into question due to Oprah Winfrey’s decision to back out of the documentary. Though Winfrey still believes the women, she felt the film was “not complete” and acknowledged Simmons himself asked her to not be a part of the film. Turner notes that, “Simmons hasn’t faced legal or social repercussions that many think he deserves.”

In 2018 when these allegations first surfaced, he relocated to Bali, which does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. Though Dear Culture is not here to litigate, what we want to interrogate is how we treat sexual violence and Black survivors.

The pandemic has been especially hard on women of color (Adobe stock photo)

“Who we listen to matters,” Turner. “We don’t listen to the needs of Black women the same way we listen to the needs of other women, and even Black men.”

theGrio’s Entertainment Director Cortney Wills captures the feeling amazing. She notes that what many Black women who’ve survived such violence want and deserve is accountability. Turning on the TV screen and seeing their abusers respected and listened to, when they’re not, is complicity.

“When I sat there in Sundance, my son held my hand. He experienced the vicarious effect of my rape, and him trying to be strong for me, as I’m weeping in shame 25 years later,” says Si Lai Abrams to Cortney Wills.

Justice for Black women should not ever be on the back-burner. Women like Abrams have been ridiculed and their careers have been halted. It’s a matter of respect. As the #MeToo movement served non-Black women in several aspects, Black women should not receive the level of scrutiny they due because of racism.

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