With the recent documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly, many are asking why the self-styled “Pied piper of R&B” has got away with it for so long. Angelo Irving asks if our disgust really translates into action.

Content Note: This article contains explicit reference to acts of child sexual abuse, please read on with caution.

Editor’s note: We are not linking to any R. Kelly songs or videos from this piece.

I wrote about R. Kelly last year after a number of music streaming services decided to stop promoting his music. At the time I expressed mocking surprise that they had done anything, because his victims, black women and girls, have been historically invisible.

Lifetime released a docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, which has once again shone a light on the history of Kelly’s alleged transgressions. However it does more than that. It highlight the complicity of so many who…