#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke Just Laid Out the Movement's Next Steps

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Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival

This weekend, Tribeca Film Festival had a whole Saturday dedicated to Time's Up—and at the "Activism Through the Ages: A New Generation" panel, poet-activist Robin Morgan, Parkland shooting survivor and student Sofie Whitney, and #MeToo founder Tarana Burke sat down for a powerful panel moderated by former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth.

After opening the panel with a discussion of an essay Whitney wrote for Glamour that outlined how she and her classmates wanted adults to support—not overpower—the students' cause, Welteroth moved the conversation, which focused on survival and resilience, toward #MeToo and the movement's next steps.

It's something that Burke has touched on before. She founded the movement in 2006 as a way to give those who have dealt with sexual violence—particularly "black and brown girls"—the language to find solidarity and community with other survivors. However, it went viral last year when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted the hashtag and the dark side of Hollywood quickly began to make headlines as women in the industry discussed their experiences with sexual harassment and assault.

In December, Burke spoke with Glamour about what she saw 2018 looking like for the movement; namely, a time to process the disruptive energy and effects of the previous fall and to help women "navigate what happens after they disclose an experience."

"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," she said then. "There’s lots of online information about sexual violence, but there’s not a lot of information about how you as an individual can start dealing with the trauma.

"Because, the power of #MeToo isn't just naming it," she said. "Naming it is just the beginning of the journey."

At the Saturday panel, Burke reiterated and gave greater detail to those thoughts—particularly the idea of healing that comes in two parts: for the individual and for the community. She and Morgan also came back to the idea that healing is an ongoing process.

"...I believe in righteous anger, and we can channel that anger into the work; and that’s what has to happen now is the work..." Burke said. "I think that what has to happen is that people have to realize that everybody has a part in this. Everybody has a lane. Everybody has something that they can contribute."

Burke also spoke about how survival is a powerful thing, rather than a status to be reckoned with from a place of (however well-meaning) pity. "What's interesting to me is that people engage survivors from a place of pity all the time—a place of sympathy," she said. "And I know they mean well but they’re always like, 'Well, what can I do for you? What service can I provide?' And I’m always in the back of mind like, 'The things I have survived to get to this moment—the reason I can call myself a survivor—there’s nothing but power after I come through those things'... and so, we need to come at this from a place of power.'"

For Burke, the next tangible steps are harnessing the intersectionality of the demographics that #MeToo crosses to advocate and vote for concrete changes at the policy level. "I think of us as a power base," she said. "If we voted along those lines in this country and said that we wanted to put people in office that will make our communities less vulnerable, who will pass laws so that we don’t have a rape kit backlog, who will do the things we need to do so that we don’t have to say 'Me too.' Who understands that when we say time’s up, we mean time’s up now."

Burke also reiterated that no matter who you are, there's a part that you can play. "So when I think about what we can do today, these are the things I tell people all the time: Figure out what your contribution is... if you are an accountant, go volunteer somewhere and do the books," she said. "Figure out what your part is, figure out what your passion is and go contribute that somewhere."

She also said it doesn't matter where you're at in the movement—a survivor who's chosen (or not) to share a story; an ally—it's just important that you participate.

"You don’t have to have a name; it doesn’t have to be #MeToo; it doesn’t have to be Time’s Up, but you need to be active today," she said.

Burke closed by reminding those getting involved to look for where resources are missing, particularly in marginalized communities—and then address those. "The other thing you can do is get groups of people together and look for the gaps, y’all," she said. "The reason why this came up for me is because I could see in my community what was missing… Look around: Look in your job; look in your community; look in your church; look in your family—figure out where the gaps are and then get some like-minded people together and sit down and figure out how you can fill those gaps.

The important thing is that #MeToo doesn't lose momentum—and action is key to that: "We just have to get active," Burke closed. "That's all."

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