Was it Pedophile Week in America?

In the news cycle, the first week of March has been full of pedophiles in the news, on our timelines, and in our trending topics.

On March 6, a two-part documentary giving detailed accounts of Michael Jackson's alleged sexual misconduct children; Leaving Neverland premiered on HBO. This documentary is narrated by two of Michael Jackson's victims; Wade Robson and Jake Safechuck. These two individuals have come out and spoken their truths with detailed accounts of their very intimate and personal relationship with the deceased King of Pop.

Then, on the same day, Gayle King and CBS Morning aired an interview with R. Kelly, R&B singer who has come under recent fire due to the after of a Lifetime Docuseries: Surviving R. Kelly. King sat down with R. Kelly to ask him about his recent charges of sexual criminal sexual abuse by the Chicago Police Department.

Although this interview is very comical, it brings attention to the character of the singer who has been to trial for sex with with a minor in the early 2000s. More heavily, the court of public opinion has already decided a verdict for Robert Kelly. After the Lifetime docuseries premiered on January 3, 2019. #MuteRKelly has become a full movement to unabashedly stop listening to the music he has created since it affords him a lifestyle that allows him to hold hostages, abuse women, and keep his destructive behavior behind closed doors.

Leaving Neverland gives a full picture of how the victims, as children, had sexual relationships with Michael Jackson. Also, it gives full details of how to Never Land Ranch effectively kept the children and Michael Jackson very far from their parents. The parents were often at the ranch with the children while they played behind close doors with Michael Jackson.

As social media reacted to both the R Kelly's interview with Gayle King and the Leaving Neverland documentary, Harvey Weinstein was brought into the conversation. Supporters of Kelly and Jackson seemed to be enraged that there was not enough attention of defamed film producer and director, Harvey Weinstein. Although, I know that Weinstein continues his thorough dragging and the lack of "media attention" is mostly due to social media algorithms and like, I had enough with the constant flooding of pedophiles on all forms of media.

It was just tew much this week. According to my phone, my social media usage went down 31% last week. I know it is due to the depressing theme of the week in pop culture. As much as I would have liked to turn a deaf ear to it all, ignorance would not do any good.

The victims of these individuals are not able to turn off their trauma and neither are their families. The best way to managed bad news upon bad news is to discuss with people we speak with in our daily lives. The #MeToo is abreast, silences are being broken and most importantly, victims have allies. Everyone is vocal on social media but rarely initiates or engages in these discussions when physically confronted with these uncomfortable topics. We do a discredit to the victims when we avoid the conversations. For so long, they were silent and did not come forward with their stories.

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