For six long weeks, my co-worker and I sat in a frigid overflow courtroom with other reporters listening to survivors share graphic details of being abused, groomed, controlled and held captive by R&B singer and producer R. Kelly.

We watched Jerhonda Pace , nine months pregnant and due any day now, keep an even tone as she recounted being abused at 16, pausing to fight tears only once. We listened to Jane walk the courtroom through how Kelly coerced her to have sex in exchange for a shot at making it big in the music industry. She shared that he knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease. We listened to Stephanie, who told the courtroom that Kelly could put the fear of God in me very quickly. We listened to several key witnesses reveal disturbing details of Kellys relationship to the late singer Aaliyah Haughton , whom he infamously married when she was just 15.

These women followed his rules: They never looked at or interacted with other men. They asked for permission to leave their rooms or to use the bathroom. They called him daddy. When they disobeyed, Kelly punished them with beatings he called chastisements. A few described their experiences as humiliating.

Last week, Kelly was found guilty on all charges in his sexual abuse trial , where he was convicted of racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which prohibits sex trafficking minors across state lines. Its the first time the singer has been convicted of sex-related crimes since the allegations against him first surfaced nearly 30 years ago.

Within that time, Kelly used his power, fame and influence to harm Black girls, boys and young women. He went unchecked, never having to truly hide. His employees and industry colleagues aided and enabled him. They booked flights for girls and women to travel to Kelly for sex; they ignored obvious signs of his girlfriends abuse. One committed bribery to obtain a fake ID for 15-year-old Aaliyah to marry then 27-year-old Kelly. Kelly gave himself the nickname Pied Piper of R&B, a reference to the folklore character who played his instrument to lure children away from their homes.

Many on social media asked what took so long for Kelly to be held responsible. Kenyette Tisha Barnes, co-founder of #MuteRKelly, put it plainly: They were Black girls. I mean, lets be real.

Its been proven time and time again that people dont listen to Black girls not just anecdotally, but statistically. Society couples that adultification with oversexualization and strips Black girls of their agency early: By age five, Black girls are seen as more adult than their white counterparts . This leads Black girls to being among the most susceptible to sexual violence, second only to Indigenous girls. As many as six in 10 Black women report being subjected to coercive sexual contact before age 18, according to a report from TIMES UP . The National Center for Violence Against Women in the Black Community also reports that 40% of sex trafficking survivors are Black .

When people treat Black girls as adults, theyre less likely to listen to Black girls accusations or look for them when they go missing. The cases of missing Black girls often go ignored and underreported in the media. (In 2020 alone, more than 70,000 Black girls under 18 went missing .)

The numbers of Black girls that are experiencing sexual violence are skyrocketing and continuing to, Dani Ayers, CEO of Me Too International, told HuffPost. However, so few of those Black girls actually report and disclose and share that this has happened to them. Even fewer go to the police to try to address the violation that has happened to them.

And thats because of the internalization that happens when you are constantly telling a Black girl that she is responsible when someone violates her body, she continued. That over sexualization and the adultification impacts us as Black girls. We take on the responsibility and it is not ours to take on. And so therefore, we dont talk about it, we hide it, we feel ashamed, we feel powerless.

Angela Douglas, co-executive director at Vera House, an organization fighting to end domestic and sexual abuse, said the blatant disregard for Black girls safety and autonomy over their own bodies stems from enslavement. Black women didnt control their own bodies. They were raped, brutalized and sold for purposes of procreation, inhumane labor, abuse and control. This treatment was legal and the status quo. No laws protected them as humans, especially since they were constitutionally seen as three-fifths of a person. They were considered property and treated as such.

It was always made clear that your body was to be used, owned and determined how to be used by someone else in your life other than you, Douglas said.

That then takes away every bit of who you are as a human being, she continued. And so how does R. Kelly then, in serial ways, harm women of color, young brown and Black girls? Because the foundation was laid for him ... Therefore, no one was going to come looking, no one was going to be the wiser. It really wasnt going to be taken seriously.