Tarana Burke and the #MeToo Movement - by Bisah Suh

On February 1 I went to go see Tarana Burke speak at the Women’s Initiative Activist of the Year Award Ceremony. Although I was familiar with the #MeToo movement and some of Tarana work, being able to see her speak about how her work started opened a whole new window into the #MeToo Movement.

During her speech she discussed her upbringings in a radical Black household where her parents encouraged her to educate herself on Black leaders and their ideologies. In highschool, she started her career as an organizer by organizing a protest against Donald Trump because of his opposition of the Central Park Five. She later went to college in Alabama where she continued her work as an organizer while learning from key figures of the Civil Rights Movement.

Her entrance into working with victims of sexual violence came from constantly meeting Black girls in Selma that had been sexually abused. This pushed her to create a program in Selma schools which was grounded in African teaching and used to heal young Black and Brown girls that had been sexually abused or felt voiceless. Her work in Alabama later morphed into the Just Be Inc and the #Metoo movement.

During her speech she described her initial fear when she saw that #MeToo was trending and she had nothing to do with it. She was afraid that her work was going to be co opted by white women. However, she said that after seeing so many people sharing their stories and seeing the impact of the movement she knew that she had to allow it to be a movement for all women.

Hearing Tarana speak helped me to understand her and her work. Her work is rooted in Blackness, at the core it is about giving a voice to those who have been silenced, particularly women of color. Moving forward I know that will continue to be at the forefront of the #MeToo movement. She is currently organizing to shed light on the abuse that R-Kelly has brought on dozens of Black women, which has been ignored for years.

Additionally, I believe the fact that she studied under leaders of the Civil Rights movement answers the question of longevity. The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most organized and international movements of the past few years. It was a movement with clear goals that were able to organize to reach many of them. I believe Tarana will take what she learned from them and apply it to the #MeToo movement. My only fear is that similarly to the Civil Rights movement, when you have a movement with clear leaders people always try to neutralize those leaders in order to silence the movement. I really hope that doesn’t happen with Tarana. I believe this movement has the ability to make a real change for women, particular women of color.