The recent documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” about the famed R&B singer’s abuse of Black girls and women over the years and the shocking revelation of a Brooklyn pastor who has been charged with raping his daughter has put the issue sexual assault of Black women and girls in the spotlight.
The Brooklyn-based Black Women’s Blueprint is an organization that deploys educational, economic and reproductive justice and sexual health initiatives reaching more than 3,000 women and girls. The organization has been at the forefront to bring attention to the issue that is sometimes not discussed or covered in mainstream media.
According to the Black Women’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 70 percent of Black woman had been sexually assaulted before the age of 18. Of that 70 percent, the most commonly reported age of a first sexual assault was 5 years old.
“These numbers are staggering,” said Sevonna Brown of BWB. “They warrant further research into the prevalence of rape and other sexual assaults in our communities, and they point to the high levels of trauma carried and embodied within our communities and Black women and girls themselves.”
Brown added that the numbers derive from the culture of silence about sexual violence in the Black community. She said such silence often functions as a protective shield against further discrimination and vilification of Black men in a world where police are killing young Black men and women.
“Within African-American and Black immigrant families, limited conversations with children about human sexuality can also send a more general message that sexuality is taboo, making it virtually impossible for victims of sexual abuse to feel comfortable disclosing their abuse, especially if the abuser is a member of the child’s social network,” Brown said.
But what can be done to protect young Black girls from abuse? Brown said it starts with listening to and believing Black girls and dismantling the culture of shame and stigma. BWB partners with fatherhood programs, social service providers, Black churches and congregations, domestic violence accountability programs, ethnic and mutual assistance organizations, public health entities and immigration organizations.
“BWB is currently at a pivotal point in its history,” Brown said. “Headquartered in Brooklyn since 2011, we have deployed educational, economic and reproductive justice and sexual health initiatives reaching over 3000 women and girls; hosted transformative regular healing circles for local neighborhood residents and nationally; and provided comprehensive individual counseling services grounded in liberatory frameworks and indigenous practices to over 600 survivors of interpersonal and/or state sexual violence from New York City.”
