Tarana Burke

Early Life

Tarana Burke as born on September 12^th, 1973 in the Bronx, New York. She grew up in a working class and low income family. Tarana attended Alabama State University, later transferring to and graduating from Auburn University. Burke’s breakthrough is her work on the #MeToo movement. Tarana was raped and sexually assaulted as a child as well as a teenager. She was supported by her mother in her recovery and encouraged to continue to be involved in the community. Burke stated that these involvements inspired her to work to help improve the lives of girls who undergo hardships. In college, she organized press conferences and many protests that regarded economic and racial problems.

Image of Tarana Burke

#MeToo

Tarana has been an activist since 1989, but really turned her work around in 2006. It was then that Burke created Just Be Inc. The Just Be Inc. website defined the group as,” a youth organization focused on the health, well-being and wholeness of young women of color. (1)” During her time working with the women, Burke was talking with a one of the women who told her that her mother’s boyfriend had been sexually abusing her. Burke was lost for words and left searching for ways to empathize with the people who disclosed their experiences to her. It was then that she coined the phrase “Me Too,” to share the message to survivors everywhere that you are not alone, this has happened to me too(4). At that point, it was left at that. Like a secret phrase shared between women. It was when Alyssa Milano tweeted on October 15^th, 2017 stating, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write “me too” as a reply to this tweet. (2)” This sparked thousands of people to reply. Some people were famous like Lady Gaga and Viola Davis. But many others were just everyday people. Even people who’s first time telling someone was on twitter.

Since this outbreak, many people have contributed to the movement. It has spread to different countries and has been embedded in other languages. But it has also been disapproved of. Some have criticized Burke’s movement to be only inclusive for women. To defend it, Burke has been quoted saying, “Me Too is not a woman’s movement. Yes, it was women that came forward and talked about it. Yes, it was about women in Hollywood initially coming forward. But men’s role in this movement is as survivors. (3)”