Tarana Burke

Tarana Burke in 2018

Tarana Burke (born September 12, 1973) is an American activist from The Bronx, New York, who started the Me Too movement.

Quotes

• Our work is about supporting survivors by providing resources for healing and action. If in the course of that process a perpetrator is held accountable for their actions - so be it. But our goal is not to ‘take down’ individuals it’s to dismantle systems that give them cover.
  • Burke, Tarana [@TaranaBurke] (July 13, 2018). Our work is about supporting survivors by providing resources for healing and action. (in en).

• This movement is about making sure survivors have the resources to heal AFTER they’ve said #metoo, it’s about galvanizing a global community or survivors and advocates to do the work of interrupting sexual violence. It’s about protecting folks’ human dignity at all cost.
  • @TaranaBurke (April 7, 2018). This movement is about making sure survivors have the resources to heal.

• There is inherent strength in agency. #MeToo, in a lot of ways, is about agency. It’s not about giving up your agency.
  • Tarana Burke, quoted in Emma Brockes #MeToo founder Tarana Burke: 'You have to use your privilege to serve other people'. The Guardian (15 January 2018).

• Sexual violence happens on a spectrum so accountability has to happen on a spectrum. I don’t think that every single case of sexual harassment has to result in someone being fired; the consequences should vary. But we need a shift in culture so that every single instance of sexual harassment is investigated and dealt with. That’s just basic common sense.
  • quoted in Emma Brockes "#MeToo founder Tarana Burke: 'You have to use your privilege to serve other people'". The Guardian. 15 January 2018. 

• We have to talk about consent really early on. I’m a big champion of sex education. Because I think that the only way we can have lasting changes is if we change the way that young people think about each other. We start teaching respect and boundaries very early, you know kindergarten, pre-kindergarten. We should be talking about respect and boundaries. We should be talking about what it means to ask permission. We should be talking about those things.
  • Tarana Burke, quoted in Zenobia Jeffries Warfield (4 January 2018). Me Too Creator Tarana Burke Reminds Us This Is About Black and Brown Survivors.