6. "People have these pervasive misconceptions that this movement is about taking down powerful men." | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Health and Wellness

10 Tarana Burke Quotes That Prove She's The Role Model We All Need

Inspirational. Woke. Passionate. Eloquent. Honest. Brave. All these words and more describe the kind of woman and speaker the founder of the #MeToo movement is.

1057
10 Tarana Burke Quotes That Prove She's The Role Model We All Need
Taylor Rose

In This Article:

Recently I had the opportunity to sit two rows from the stage and hear Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, give the most impassioned talk I've heard in a long time.

She was the guest speaker at Case Western Reserve University's Think Forum, held on October 16th. She walked onto the stage with so much grace that you'd never guess she'd experienced so much hurt.

What marveled me most about her entire speech, was that she didn't mention her experience of abuse once. She didn't need to. We all knew about it, and the entire point of her movement is to not focus on the pain of our stories, but to instead focus on healing ourselves and our communities.

Burke founded the #MeToo movement back in 2006, and the phrase began without the hashtag, and without social media in general.

She used these two words as a way to unify survivors. When all other words failed her in comforting survivors of sexual abuse, assault, and harassment, these two words were all she had to give any semblance of hope and solace to those who shared their stories with her.

I sat in awe as she spoke of ally-ship and camaraderie and celebrating the one year anniversary of the #MeToo hashtag going viral on Twitter. Here are some things she said in her talk that stood out to me in the short time I got to hear her speak, and they're things I'll remember forever.

1. "[21st Century Youth Leadership Movement] taught me to focus on the injustice in the world rather than the injustices in my own life."

Flickr Tarana Burke

Burke attended college in Selma, Alabama, and worked with the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, a program that works to empower children to create positive change in their communities. It was her that she was taught to focus her rage outward and to injustices like systematic racism, instead of holding that rage strictly against the injustices done to her personally. Burke became a civil rights activist at a young age and let her pain fuel the fire to push for change.

2. "What could someone have said to me at that age to make me feel whole again?"

Tarana Burke

When she said this, it felt like someone had punched me in the gut. She had just finished telling the story of the first time the words "me too" came to mind after a 12 or 13-year-old girl told her about being sexually abused. She said that she had no words to comfort this child, despite having been in the same situation at that age. She never said the words "me too" to this particular child, but reflecting on the situation later, she realized that those were the only words that would have made sense.

3. "Your life does not have to be the sum total of these circumstances." 

A sentiment she touched on again and again throughout her speech was the fact that our pain and our bad experiences do not define us. They do not define the trajectory of our lives, they don't affect our worth, they don't dictate how we have to live the rest of our lives. She emphasized the importance of healing and focusing on life after sexual assault.

4. "You have to take what you have to make what you need."

Tarana Burke

Specifically, Burke was referring to taking the pain and emotion coupled with the lack of resources for survivors of sexual assault, and turning that into what became the #MeToo movement. She needed a support system and a place to feel understood, and she created that using her experiences. This quote can apply to so many other facets of life, and everyone can benefit from learning the value of our trauma, and how it puts us in a unique situation to create something no one else can, because no two people share the exact same experiences.

5. [The #MeToo movement] is not a culture shift, not yet."

When she said this, I was confused at first, and judging from the looks on the faces around me, I wasn't the only one. In my head, the #MeToo movement was a huge culture shift. Survivors were coming forward, supporting each other, looking out for each other, I thought that was a big win. What Burke explained was that yes, our culture is changing, but only slightly. She explained that we still have a very long way to go. We have a heavy fight ahead of us in protecting the rights of survivors and reprimanding perpetrators. Our culture is changing, but our mindsets towards sexual assault/abuse/harassment haven't shifted in the way we need them to.

6. "People have these pervasive misconceptions that this movement is about taking down powerful men."

A large part of Burke's talk was clarifying what the #MeToo movement is, and what it isn't. It isn't about men in positions of power, it isn't about men being in "danger" of accusations. In fact, it isn't about men at all unless you're talking about male victims of sexual assault/abuse/harassment (and yes, they do exist). The whole focus of this movement is survivors, both male and female. About making them heard, making them feel less alone, and making sure they don't have to live in fear.

7. "We steadily trade on the labor of survivors."

We guilt them into telling their stories. We exploit those stories in the media. We make them relive those stories over and over again each time they're asked what happened to them. We demean their stories when all we talk about is the perpetrators. We call them liars. We ask what they were wearing. We use their pain as leverage. Burke pointed out that even though #MeToo has brought so many stories to the forefront, survivors are often forgotten about. Think about it, can you came any of the women Bill Cosby assaulted? I can't. Because all we hear about is Bill Cosby himself. We see endless coverage of the Harvey Weinstein's and the Bill Cosby's, but the survivors are pushed to the background.

8. "You don't owe the world your story. Some people don't deserve your story."

After her speech, we moved onto the Q&A part of the evening, where audience members got the chance to ask questions. When asked about when the right time is for survivors to tell their story, Burke simply stated that they never have to. Your story is exactly that, yours. It belongs to you. No one else has ownership over those experiences. Burke said that a simple, "Me too," is all you need if you want to acknowledge that you know the pain another survivor is going through, but you are in no way obligated to tell your story because some people don't deserve to hear it.

9. "You can't tell a person how to heal."

Burke said that one of the questions she gets most often is how to come back from an incidence of being sexually abused/assaulted/harassed, and she said that she can't offer a fix-all solution. She said that you can offer support, a shoulder to cry on, you can make suggestions, but ultimately you cannot tell a person how to heal from their trauma.

10. "Raise [your girls] with vigilance, but not fear."

Another question from the audience was along the lines of, "What can we say to our daughters?" Burke’s response was so well thought out and as a mother herself, she encouraged the audience to not walk on eggshells around their children. To teach boys and girls about consent. To teach boys that no means no, and to lead by example. To teach girls to walk a fine line of watching out for themselves and their fellow women, but not to the point of living in constant fear.

After hearing her speak, I owe so much to Tarana Burke. In two and a half hours I learned so much from her about healing, and about supporting survivors, and about the world in general. I left with the fire in me to create change fueled more than I ever thought possible. It made me more confident in pursuing activism and standing up for what's right, and gave me tools to help myself and those around me.

To Tarana Burke, thank you for your endless pursuit of justice, and for educating and inspiring myself and so many other men and women around the world.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Chandler Bing

I'm assuming that we've all heard of the hit 90's TV series, Friends, right? Who hasn't? Admittedly, I had pretty low expectations when I first started binge watching the show on Netflix, but I quickly became addicted.

Without a doubt, Chandler Bing is the most relatable character, and there isn't an episode where I don't find myself thinking, Yup, Iam definitely the Chandler of my friend group.

Keep Reading...Show less
eye roll

Working with the public can be a job, in and of itself. Some people are just plain rude for no reason. But regardless of how your day is going, always having to be in the best of moods, or at least act like it... right?

1. When a customer wants to return a product, hands you the receipt, where is printed "ALL SALES ARE FINAL" in all caps.

2. Just because you might be having a bad day, and you're in a crappy mood, doesn't make it okay for you to yell at me or be rude to me. I'm a person with feelings, just like you.

3. People refusing to be put on hold when a customer is standing right in front of you. Oh, how I wish I could just hang up on you!

Keep Reading...Show less
blair waldorf
Hercampus.com

RBF, or resting b*tch face, is a serious condition that many people suffer from worldwide. Suffers are often bombarded with daily questions such as "Are you OK?" and "Why are you so mad?" If you have RBF, you've probably had numerous people tell you to "just smile!"

While this question trend can get annoying, there are a couple of pros to having RBF.

Keep Reading...Show less
legally blonde
Yify

Another day, another Elle Woods comment. Can’t us blondes get through the day without someone harping at us over the typical stereotypes about who we are? I never understood why a person was judged based upon the hair color they were born with, or the hair color they choose to have (unless you dye your hair blue like Kylie Jenner, I’m still trying to understand why that’s a trend). Nevertheless, as it should be assumed, not everyone is the same. Not all blondes like bright colors and Lilly Pulitzer, and not all blondes claim to identify with Marilyn Monroe. I think the best suggestion to give to people before they make such radical claims is to stop judging a book by its cover. Or in this case, stop judging a blonde by her hair color.

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

A Year At JMU As Told By 'Bob's Burgers'

The world's greatest university meets the world's greatest show.

1707
Bob's Burgers
collegian.com

A year at JMU promises many great adventures. The journey of becoming a duke and learning what being a duke is all about is really exciting and a lot of fun. Of course, we all know that James Madison University is the greatest university in Virginia (perhaps even the entire country). There are many events and moments at JMU that are cherished and remembered by all dukes.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments