My oh my. Anyone who's been following the news has probably heard about the Bill Cosby scandal.
The responses seem to have gone everywhere. From celebrities demanding proof, to the accusations being called a threat to the Black family, the situation has shown a side of rape culture within our own Black culture. And thus, we look at a group of people who are the most visible and invisible at the same time.
Black women. So let's talk about it. Black women are our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, coworkers, friends, strangers, acquaintances. Every Black person knows a Black woman. Yet, we are perfectly fine with telling them their trauma, their feelings don't matter.We need proof of their rape as if we're going to grab some rubber gloves and investigate their vaginas ourselves.
Again, black women are the most visible and invisible at the same time. Everyone seems to either want one, or want to be one. Gay white men seem to have one inside of them (oh yasss, sassy diva, girl!). Black men either desire them, or desire other women with Black features. White men love Black women as well, which is how mixed race babies were born during the slavery era. (Read my review of Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, relating to slave women)
It's absolutely gross and disgusting how we gather to discredit the words of forty women. What do we tell the other women who are too scared to speak about their rape? What do you tell your daughter who may have been assaulted by her boyfriend after a movie night at his house? What do you tell your daughter who was inappropriately looked at by her teacher, too scared to confront administration?
Rape culture and celebrity idolization is strange. We put people – from football players and musicians to great respectable fathers – on pedestals, and excuse them from their wrongdoings. It's time to hold people accountable to what they do. What Bill Cosby did wasn't just wrong. It was horrific, dehumanizing, and hypocritical.
There's no reason to apologize for the predatory poundcake-eating figure hailed as America's Black father. He's lived a comfortable life eating for free at Ben's Chili Bowl, enjoying his successes and his shine. We need to apologize to the women we've hurt and failed, who we've told aren't valuable.