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Tarana Burke Quotes

Powerful Tarana Burke for Daily Growth

If we don't center the voices of marginalized people, we're doing the wrong work.

- Tarana Burke

Work, Doing, Center, Marginalized

I'm driven by the gaps, the things that are missing, the areas where marginalized people exist - and where the least resources are available for them.

- Tarana Burke

Resources, Available, Least, Marginalized

I founded the Me Too Movement because there was a void in the community that I was in. There were gaps in services. There was dearth in resources, and I saw young people - I saw black and brown girls - who are hurting and who needed something that just wasn't there.

- Tarana Burke

Young, Young People, Needed, Dearth

'Me Too' is about letting - using the power of empathy to stomp out shame.

- Tarana Burke

Empathy, Shame, Using, Stomp

We use a term called 'empowerment through empathy.' And 'Me Too' is so powerful, because somebody had said it to me - right? - and it changed the trajectory of my healing process once I heard that.

- Tarana Burke

Empathy, Process, Through, Trajectory

When the #MeToo movement started and went viral, it was everyday people all around the world. The fact that the stories continue to be about famous white women has everything to do with who the media places attention on.

- Tarana Burke

Media, Fact, About, Viral

'Me Too' became the way to succinctly and powerfully connect with other people and give people permission to start their journey to heal.

- Tarana Burke

Give, Other, Became, Heal

For every Harvey Weinstein, there's three or four thousand other pastors, coaches, teachers, uncles, cousins, and stepfathers who are committing the same crimes. We have to keep that in focus and we have to keep talking about it.

- Tarana Burke

Other, Weinstein, Committing, Pastors

Part of the job is to find out what they need. #MeToo is about helping people find those resources.

- Tarana Burke

Need, Find, Helping, Helping People

Patriarchy doesn't just make men out to be ogres. Women buy into the patriarchy as well, and women make those comments as well, like, 'Boys will be boys.' Women have to undo that stuff, too.

- Tarana Burke

Will, Like, Comments, Undo

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.

- Tarana Burke

Vary, Shift, Instance, Common Sense

Foundations have to think outside the box and maybe expand past the usual suspects that get all of the funding and start thinking about how to reach into communities and support community healing on a more local level.

- Tarana Burke

Reach, Maybe, About, Local Level

If I found a healing tree in my backyard, and it grew some sort of fruit that was a healing balm for people to repair what was damaged, I'm not going to just harvest all of those fruits and say, 'You cant have this.' If I have a cure for people, I'm going to share it.

- Tarana Burke

Fruit, Repair, Some, Cant

For every R. Kelly or Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein, there's, you know, the owner of the grocery store, the coach, the teacher, the neighbor, who are doing the same things. But we don't pay attention until it's a big name. And we don't pay attention 'til it's a big celebrity.

- Tarana Burke

Doing, Celebrity, Big, Cosby

Violence is violence. Trauma is trauma. And we are taught to downplay it, even think about it as child's play.

- Tarana Burke

Play, Think, Trauma, Downplay

I think that women of color use social media to make our voices heard with or without the amplification of white women. I also think that, many times, when white women want our support, they use an umbrella of 'women supporting women' and forget that they didn't lend the same kind of support.

- Tarana Burke

Color, I Think, Use, Supporting

I didn't start Me Too as a hashtag, and had I had the opportunity to, I probably wouldn't have done it that way. I think that what has happened subsequently has been beautiful to watch, but what concerns me is what all of these survivors are going to do now.

- Tarana Burke

Been, I Think, Had, Subsequently

The young girls of color that first encountered the 'me too' movement in community centers and classrooms and church basements were there not only because they needed a safe space, but because they needed their own space.

- Tarana Burke

Color, Young, Young Girls, Classrooms

I founded the 'me too' movement in 2006 because I wanted to find a way to connect with the black and brown girls in the program I ran.

- Tarana Burke

Black, Founded, Program, Ran

I started doing organizing work as a teenager. I was part of an organization called the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement at 14.

- Tarana Burke

Work, Doing, Part, 21st Century

I think it is selfish for me to try to frame Me Too as something that I own. It is bigger than me and bigger than Alyssa Milano. Neither one of us should be centered in this work. This is about survivors.

- Tarana Burke

Think, I Think, Centered, Frame

The work is more than just about the amplification of survivors and quantifying their numbers. The work is really about survivors talking to each other and saying, 'I see you. I support you. I get it.'

- Tarana Burke

Work, More, Other, Amplification

Social media is so immediate and in your face that I know many people have been helped and many people who have been traumatised by their entire timeline filled with 'me too.'

- Tarana Burke

Been, Social, Filled, Social Media

Social media is not a safe space.

- Tarana Burke

Media, Safe, Social, Social Media

What does justice look like for a survivor? It'll mean different things to different communities.

- Tarana Burke

Mean, Like, Does, Different Things

I've done work in every area of social justice you can think of, but I've been highly focused on young people and then specifically black and brown girls.

- Tarana Burke

Think, Been, Area, Social Justice

The first thing I organized around was the Central Park Five case for the young men who were accused. We talked about the unfair misrepresentation of these young teenagers in the media. I've been fighting back against Donald Trump for a long time.

- Tarana Burke

Been, Trump, Donald, None

Donald Trump has proven to be the kind of person who you can't reason with and who you can't have a logical conversation with - and who I can't imagine having a heart-to-heart conversation thinking that I would change something specifically about this person.

- Tarana Burke

Reason, Trump, Donald, None

These movements aren't about anger. We're not angrily saying 'Black Lives Matter.' We're declaring it. It's a declaration. We want to be seen as robust, full human beings that have anger and have joy. We want to be able to just freely have that joy. Like everybody else does.

- Tarana Burke

Everybody, About, Movements, Freely

The world doesn't realise I have a regular job!

- Tarana Burke

Job, World, Realise, Regular

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