Variety: Tarana Burke is a lifelong activist who founded Me Too more than a decade ago — but the world didn’t know about the movement until Hollywood took notice.
And Burke isn’t mad about it.
Despite criticism on social media that Hollywood actresses have become the face of Me Too, glamorizing the movement at glitzy events like the Golden Globes where A-listers wore black as a symbol of solidarity on the red carpet, Burke says she isn’t surprised the power of celebrity catapulted her cause into the global conversation.
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I had the honor of seeing Tarana Burke speak in person earlier this semester. She said a lot of the same inspiring things as in this article. I remember distinctly how shocked Tarana Burke explained she was when she woke up the morning the #MeToo movement took off in Hollywood. She had been nurturing this movement like the sexual assault victims she worked with for 10 years without much publicity and then suddenly her movement was flooding social media with white actor faces. I am so glad Tarana Burke is finally getting the credit she deserves for this strong force that has been the topic of conversation for the past six months. I find myself in a very prominent position as I aspire to be in the industry that has pushed this movement so far forward. Tarana Burke finds the #MeToo movement as a spark of hope for a new system of providing more resources and help for survivors and I am so excited and determined to take part in this movement alongside her and other women from my industry in creating these new safe havens for survivors. Tarana Burke has sparked a change.
“I understand why people are frustrated that it took celebrities for this to take off because in a perfect world, people would just care and would want to see this situation elevated to public issue, but that’s just not the reality that we live in.” I at first had this response to everyone finally speaking out about sexual assault and sexual harassment after a series of celebrities finally hopped on board, though I see why it took so long for people to take notice and finally choose to acknowledge it after so long, and I am so glad that Tarana Burke has spearheaded this movement and it has grown so much. Tarana Burke is truly incredible in the ways she works and has founded and fueled these conversations to take off- particularly in our industry. My only hope from these conversations that Burke has started is that they don’t die down, because this is something that needs to change and change now.
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