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If you see something, say nothing: Kim Osorio v. 'The Source' | Louder Than A Riot, S2E5

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Journalist Kim Osorio always dreamed of working at The Source magazine. Growing up in The Bronx, she pictured what it would be like to interview culture-shifting artists and be part of the 5 Mic Council. In 2002, she made it happen — working her way up to become the magazine's first woman editor-in-chief.

But her dream started to come apart at the seams when she alleged the magazine's owners harassed and discriminated against her based on her gender — just one part of what she'd come to view as a pattern of inappropriate behavior in the office. Kim submitted a complaint to HR. Shortly after, the owners fired her. She sued the magazine and her former bosses on four claims: gender discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work environment, retaliation and defamation.

On this episode, we report on what it costs to speak up in a culture where it's always been safer to keep quiet. Former Source writers Aliya King Neil and Khary Turner take listeners behind the scenes at the hip-hop bible, through the environment that led to Kim's complaint. We talk with organizer and journalist Rosa Clemente about the trial and the norms of sexual harassment in hip-hop media, and unpack how both illustrate the barriers that make harassment cases so difficult to prosecute, let alone win. We speak with Tarana Burke — the activist who, the very same year as The Source trial, coined the phrase "Me Too" — about what it takes to build a Me Too movement. And finally, we share why Kim's actual voice isn't in the episode at all and what that absence says about why hip-hop has never really had the reckoning it deserves.

Illustration by Amanda Howell Whitehurst.
http://amandahowellwhitehurst.com

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LOUDER THAN A RIOT’s second season unpacks just how deeply misogynoir is embedded in the fabric of the hip-hop culture that we love. How did issues of masculinity play into the tensions between ILoveMakonnen and Drake, or Saucy Santana and the industry? How did Rico Nasty's community mobilize for her when she was targeted by Playboi Carti fans? Why did Megan Thee Stallion's reputation get put on the stand for a trial where she was the victim? And why does the culture antagonize rap beefs that reinforce the idea there can only be one queen of rap?

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