For those unfortunate enough to not have attended, the University of South Florida recently had an amazing guest lecturer grace our oval theater. Tarana Burke immediately lit up the room with her amazing personality that shone through her powerful and empowering stories.
During her lecture time she discussed the very start of the Me Too movement, from its humble beginnings in a local church to the celebrity-status, nationwide movement we hear about today. It was an incredible experience to listen to her tell her story but what really stuck with me was the advice she was giving us within the stories. There were two in particular that really resonated with me and I believe everyone should hear them.
The first came about when she was explaining her initial reaction to when the movement first took off and gained popularity online. It first started escalating on twitter when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted using the famed hashtag #MeToo. The hashtag exploded as other celebrities and twitter users came forward with their own stories using #MeToo.
Tarana Burke, at first, said she felt a bit fearful that this overnight outburst would, in a way, undo all the work she strived so long to achieve. She then thought about it a while and then decided no, this would not undo everything she worked for, this WAS everything she worked for. No progress would be made fighting and detracting from the other survivors of the movement. Giving them a platform to finally speak their truth was more important than saying "I started it first."
The second actually came from a question asked by a student in the audience. The question dealt with empathizing with survivors. Tarana Burke loved this question, saying it was one thing to sympathize and another to actually empathize. She said when we attempt to show to survivors we actually build a wall between us and them. "Oh I'm sorry that thing happened to YOU" can put up a barrier, even if we think we are trying to help and be understanding. The best thing that we can do to try and comfort survivors is to show empathy, to share their feelings and emotions with them rather than just feel sorry for them.
I would highly recommend anyone and everyone to look into Tarana Burke. Watch her interviews and talks and read her articles and stories, she is an awe-inspiring activist and an astonishing woman and I believe she will always have something new to teach us all.
