Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement, visited Washburn’s campus April 25.

Burke’s talk coincided with Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Denim Day, a day which encourages people to wear denim or teal in support of survivors of sexual assault. The event was sponsored by Washburn’s Campus Activities Board, the Student and Greek Life office, WSGA and was also partially funded by a grant awarded to Washburn by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women.

Burke spoke in what she described as not a speech, but a “one sided conversation,” although there were moments when the audience interacted with her. She began by speaking about her beginnings, growing up in The Bronx with a father who focused on the views of Marcus Garvey and a mother who held many feminist ideals.

Burke said that her activism began during the 1989 Central Park jogger case, when five teenagers of color were falsely accused of mugging and raping a woman in New York. Burke helped to organize protests in support of the teens, including one of them that she knew personally. It came to light several years later that the crime was committed by a serial rapist and that the five teenagers had been falsely imprisoned.

“It was that moment that I realized that I could be an organizer,” Burke said. “[I realized] as a 14 or 15-year-old, I could literally make a difference.”

Burke said that she continued with her organizing through high school and college and eventually landed working with the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement. It was this work that brought “Heaven” into her life. “Heaven” was a young girl who attended one of the movement’s camps. Burke said that during the camp, “Heaven” came to her and told her of a series sexual assaults by her mother’s boyfriend. Burke, a survivor herself, could not at the time bring herself to tell “Heaven” her own story of assault, or even say anything to the young girl. Burke sent “Heaven” to another counselor.

“What I really wanted to say to her was ‘I know because this happened to me too,’” Burke said. “But I felt like that wasn’t enough until she walked away and then I realized that probably would’ve been enough. At least I would’ve said something. At least I would’ve let her know the thing that nobody let me know at her age. That you’re not alone… this happens to other kids.”

Burke said that it was in this moment of guilt that the origins of Me Too began. She moved forward and began finding ways to help children, especially young girls of color, to find ways to speak out about sexual abuse that happened in their lives.

Burke also spoke about the moment when the movement really went viral, during the Harvey Weinstein scandal of 2017. She talked about how emotional she felt in the first few days of the social media frenzy that happened after Alyssa Milano tweeted “Me Too” and millions of others felt encouraged to come forward with their stories of sexual violence and harassment. Burke spoke highly of Milano, who didn’t know about the movement or Burke’s involvement in starting it when she posted the tweet.

“When she found out, within 24 hours, she posted [the origin] on her Twitter page,” Burke said. “She posted the website… she reached out to me within 48 hours and 72 hours later we were on national television together.”

Burke said that Milano’s gesture of reaching out allowed her to give context to the history of the movement.

The backlash of this viral moment was something that Burke feared. She talked about how many people are calling the movement a witch hunt or a tactic to bring down powerful people. Burke said that this is far from the truth. She said that the first two women to come out against Weinstein did so not asking or even expecting him to be fired. They did it only so that their voices could be heard. Burke was clear to point out that the backlash and misconceptions of the movement need to be pushed back.

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“This is a movement, without question,” Burke said. “But in the trajectory of this movement this moment right here is so important. If we don’t stop having these ridiculous conversations about what this movement is not about we’re going to squander it.”

Burke said that ultimately this movement is about the people who tell their stories. Within the first 24 hours after the Milano tweet, there were 12 million engagements with #MeToo.

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“Every one of those hashtags is a human being,” Burke said. “It’s a person who got up the courage or the wherewithal to put themselves out there on the internet. To tell their story, or not tell their story but to be included in the moment.”