Africa Bambaata and Child Molestation Accusations Uncut
An Editorial
by Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D. | Sunday, May 8, 2016 | Courtey of Bossip
Africa Bambaata and Child Molestation Accusations Uncut
Africa Bambaata and Child Molestation Accusations Uncut ~ I have reached a point in my studies and experience, that the dysfunction of my people no longer take me by surprise, so when the news hit that Afrika Bambaata, a Hip Hop pioneer, was being accused of child molestation, I was not caught off guard by it. To me, this was simply another instance in which the dysfunction within the black collective is being magnified through the dysfunction perpetuated by a celebrity or an icon. The truth is that molestation, incest and rape have been major issues within black culture for years, but the silent condonation that is so prevalent within our culture has suffocated the truth, until now.
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The massive expanse of the internet and the emergence of social media has made it significantly more difficult for people to conceal information, and so we are beginning to see what has always been behind the veneer of privacy and deception. We are being forced to confront the destructive behavior that serves to perpetuate the dysfunction within the collective — rendering us incapable of pulling ourselves out of the darkness of an inescapable state of oppression and self-destruction.
At a time in which the black man is needed so desperately within the black collective, we are allowing broken and disturbed black men to assault their innocence and sense of security, ensuring that many of them will step onto the battlefield already broken. And yet, we seem bewildered and mentally perplexed by the fact that our men are not performing as effectively as they should.
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One thing that is immensely troubling is the fact that men are not standing up and speaking out against this behavior. Furthermore, some of our men who have the platform from which to speak have chosen to dismiss it, or overlook it. For instance, I listened to an interview where KRS-1 made the following statement concerning the accusations against Afrika Bambaata:
“For me, if you keep it hip-hop, nothing can be taken away from Afrika Bambaataa,” he said. “But if you want to dig into dude’s personal life and accusations that’s being made and so on, personally, I don’t give a f–k.”
“If somebody was harmed or whatever, y’all gotta deal with that s–t. That don’t stop what you did for hip-hop. It don’t take away none of it. History is history. But deal with that. That’s personal.”
Shortly after hearing this interview, I addressed my disappointment in KRS-1 and his insensitivity toward the victims of this type of behavior. You can see the response here!
When Black men fail to speak up and speak out on this type of behavior, they are actually helping to perpetuate the rape culture that is so prevalent among us.
When I first read the story that I shared below, written by David Dennis Jr., I mirrored my sentiments. This is not about whether the accusations are valid and accurate, which I believe they are; it is about the need to address issues like this when they arise. When we address it, we give our young children a voice, that they would not otherwise have. It provides them with a blanket of security that assures them that when they come forth with their concerns in this area, they will not be ostracized and left alone.
We speak often about empowerment, wealth building and unity, but there can be no unity when we are not holding men accountable for their lethiferous actions. A person’s celebrity and fame can never transcend our responsibility to hold them accountable for the manner in which they engage the collective. And, never is this more prevalent than when the regnant destructive actions perpetrated against our youth.
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No one can deny the contributions that Afrika Bambaata has contributed to Hip Hop, not only in the form of rap music, but to the culture as a whole. However, there is no contribution to our culture so great that we must feel compelled to turn our back to the ravaging of our youth. There is nothing that a man can do that provides him sanctity and refuge among his people after violating the innocence of the youth within the collective.
We need our children to be whole and capable, not battle a fractured reality as they attempt to grapple with the trauma associated with being molested as a minor. There is no explaining away this type of behavior. There is no exceptional accolades that exempts the black man from his responsibility to call this what it is — bullshit! We are fighting a war on so many fronts, it is hard for me to keep up with them all, and then we have the audacity to put broken soldiers on the field and expect them to perform. This is absolutely unacceptable. I also take offense to the bodyguard who has come forward to not only validate the accusations that have been presented so far, but to say that there are hundreds more. My question to this person is: Why did you not do something about it then?
At the end of the day, Black men are going to have to do some serious soul searching to determine whether we plan on stepping up and living and operating within our roles as protectors within the collective, because to this point, we have done an absolutely horrible job. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.
Dear Black Men, It’s Time For Us To Talk About Afrika Bambaataa
Posted at 2:56 PM on May 4, 2016 – By David Dennis Jr.
Categories: Editorials, News, Originals
Afrika Bambaataa – real name Kevin Donovan – is one of rap’s foremost pioneers. By forming The Zulu Nation – a group of socially conscious and politically aware artists in New York – he became integral in injecting Black nationalism into Hip-Hop. The goal was to inspire future generations of MCs and musicians. They did just that. In 1982 Bambaataa released “Planet Rock,” a thumping boom-bap record that inspired break dancers and a whole 1980s rap sound. It could be argued that there would be no Hip-Hop without Afrika Bambaataa.
But we have to talk about the accusations that he molested multiple teenage boys.
A little over a month ago Ronald Savage – a former member of the New York State Democratic Committee – went public with the accusation that rap legend Afrika Bambaataa molested him at the age of 15. According to Savage, Donovan forced him to engage in oral sex. Soon thereafter Hassan Campbell came forward and said that Donovan molested him several times in the rapper’s home. More men who opted to stay anonymous came forward, discussing how Bambaataa would force himself on them and perform oral sex on the teenaged young men, who are now in their 40s and 50s. Then Bambaataa’s bodyguard came forward and said he knows of “hundreds” of boys who were victims of his sexual assaults.
I don’t know if you’ve heard about the story or not. What I do know is that not nearly enough people are talking about it. And that’s not acceptable. Regardless of if Donovan committed any crimes or not, we need to at least discuss the accusations. What’s incredible is that, for the most part, people aren’t defending Bambaataa. They aren’t speaking out against him. There’s just…silence. Especially from Black men.
Regardless of what White feminists or Black men or anyone else wants to say, it was largely Black women who spoke out against Bill Cosby after the accusations arose of him drugging and raping women. Black women blew the whistle on Twitter, wrote articles and called out Cosby despite his status as a seemingly unimpeachable figure in the Black community. And many women were publicly ostracized and abused for “wanting to see a Black man fall” or whatever. We even had the whole Facebook rumor that Cosby was only “targeted” based on a fictional story that he tried to buy NBC. As much as it was important to listen to all of the facts of the case, it was just as important to attack misogyny and violence against women.
Black men need to take up the same charge when it comes to sexual assault, especially when it comes to cases like that of Afrika Bambaataa. Because one in six Black men have reported being molested as children and we need to protect them. Molestation of Black boys is the dark corner of our experiences that we just don’t talk about. Maybe because it’s scary. Maybe because we feel like it’s emasculating. I’m not sure, but I personally know too many Black men with stories of female babysitters having sex with them when they were far too young and never confronting the fact they were molested. And stories of men molesting them don’t get told because of the shame and hurt that comes next. Because males don’t get molested. They have sex with women and enjoy it or they shut up about when men violate them.
I remember watching The Carter documentary in 2009 and being disturbed by Lil Wayne’s story of his mentor and father figure, Birdman, and their relationship with sex. At one point Lil Wayne stands in a room full of people and tells them about the time he was forced to receive oral sex in front of other adults. He was 11.
I got raped when I was 11, Twist. And I loved it. I ain’t never press charges. I’m a do you like [Birdman] and them did me. I’ll never forget that day. They was all in the kitchen. I was scared. I’ll never forget the words, “suck Lil Wayne lil’ d*ck. I was sitting on the couch. Everyone was in that b*tch. Those n*ggas was talking ‘girl you know you such a good d*ck sucker…I ain’t never had this happen!
I walked out that b*tch felt like I killed five n*ggas, ran through three banks, I was a different man after that. I was Lil Wayne.
In the clip he laughs the incident off. That scene always stuck with me. Wayne appeared to be admitting to what was at best an inappropriate moment of sexual activity involving adults. And nobody said anything. There was never a story about it. No questions. Nothing.
KRS-One
At least he managed to get the story out. When it comes to Black boys being molested by Black men, the stories don’t get told and the boys aren’t given any safe space to find help. We have to set a precedent for Black boys to feel like they’ll be protected, loved and nurtured when they speak up about sexual assault. The Afrika Bambaataa situation is a case study on why Black men stay silent. Just look at the most prominent response to the allegations.
KRS-One is the most famous man to speak up about the allegations against Donovan and his response was a troubling perpetuation of rape culture:
“For me, if you keep it hip-hop, nothing can be taken away from Afrika Bambaataa,” he said. “But if you want to dig into dude’s personal life and accusations that’s being made and so on, personally, I don’t give a f–k.”
“If somebody was harmed or whatever, y’all gotta deal with that s–t. That don’t stop what you did for hip-hop. It don’t take away none of it. History is history. But deal with that. That’s personal.”
In 30 seconds, KRS-One established why Black boys can’t find justice or peace when they’re sexually assaulted: “y’all gotta deal with that,” “deal with it,” “that’s personal.” And still beyond the accusations, hurting Black boys doesn’t take away from someone’s legacy. There needs to be a thousand Black men speaking up for these boys and against sexual assault for every idiotic KRS-One comment. There needs to be a united front of support and courage in facing sexual assault and the Black boys it victimizes. We as Black men need to be able to stand up and look other Black men in the eye and tell them that they can’t continue to victimize Black boys and girls. We have to do a better job at this. We’ve been silent too long in protecting Black women from sexual assault and haven’t even begun to adequately broach the topic of Black men who have had to live through sexual assault.
I get it. We want to uphold our legends and are tired of the constant bombardments against Black people who find success. But what’s more important is protecting Black bodies. And I don’t care how many anthems Afrika Bambaataa made or what his contributions to Hip-Hop are, his fame will never be more important than keeping Black boys safe.
Again, I don’t know if the accusations are true. But the least we as Black men owe these other Black men is the decency of hearing them out and advocating for their safety. Because otherwise how much do Black lives really matter to us?
About the author:
David Dennis, Jr. is a writer and editor based out of Atlanta (but it’s still WHO DAT all day). He’s currently an editor at Moguldom Media whose writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Smoking Section, Uproxx, Playboy, CNN Money, The Source, Complex.com and wherever people argue about things on the Internet. He’s a New Orleans Press Club award recipient and has been cited in Best Music Writing. He’s also a proud alum of Davidson College.