#MeToo Founder Tarana Burke: 'Jesus Was The First Activist That I Knew'

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

“As a survivor of sexual assault,” Tarana Burke, the founder of the Me Too movement, tells me, “Catholicism was a place, a way for me to gauge how to exist in the world. Inside of this trauma, there was hope.”
Faith has been a part of Ms. Burke’s life since she was a child. Born in the Bronx, New York, in 1973, Ms. Burke was raised in an interfaith home. Her brother and stepfather were Muslim, and, after attending Catholic schools most of her childhood, she decided to become Catholic.....

Ms. Burke is still Christian — though she no longer identifies as Catholic — and faith is still a pivotal part of the work that she does. In 1997, Ms. Burke founded Just Be Inc, a nonprofit organization focused on helping young girls who have been victims of sexual harassment and assault. “My professional life is motivated by my personal life. My personal life is grounded in my faith,” she tells me. “You can’t do this kind of work without being grounded in a faith that showed possibilities. Christianity is, really, when you take away all the pomp and circumstance, it’s about hope and possibility.”

To read more:

https://sojo.net/articles/metoo-founder-tarana-burke-jesus-was-first-activist-i-knew

[guillaumeb]

1. Another point from the article:

Despite the lack of coverage her faith has gotten, the influence of Christianity on her advocacy has remained constant. It is often difficult for people to associate Christianity with activism because it has become so weaponized, she says. “Christianity has been co-opted by people who have a political agenda, and have a very particular narrative that is steeped in racism, and classism, and sexism, and all of these other forms of oppression,” she tells me, “I’m the kind of Christian that recognizes who Jesus was — and Jesus was the first activist that I knew, and the first organizer that I knew, and the first example of how to be in service to people.”

[Bfd]

2. Tarana Burke's METoo movement began 10 yrs ago. What a story!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/10/17/us/me-too-tarana-burke-origin-trnd/index.html

From the article:

Then
"Burke is the program director for Brooklyn-based Girls for Gender Equity. Its goal is to empower young women of color.

But the seeds for the movement were planted earlier than that -- in 1996, when Burke was a youth camp director.

After an all-girl bonding session, a young girl asked to speak to Burke privately.

This is how she describes the encounter on the Just Be site:

"For the next several minutes this child ... struggled to tell me about her 'stepdaddy' or rather her mother's boyfriend who was doing all sorts of monstrous things to her developing body. ... I was horrified by her words, the emotions welling inside of me ran the gamut, and I listened until I literally could not take it anymore ... which turned out to be less than five minutes.
Then, right in the middle of her sharing her pain with me, I cut her off and immediately directed her to another female counselor who could 'help her better.' "

Burke said she never forgot the look on the girl's face.

"The shock of being rejected, the pain of opening a wound only to have it abruptly forced closed again -- it was all on her face," she wrote.


"I couldn't help her release her shame, or impress upon her that nothing that happened to her was her fault.
I could not find the strength to say out loud the words that were ringing in my head over and over again as she tried to tell me what she had endured. ...

"I watched her walk away from me as she tried to recapture her secrets and tuck them back into their hiding place. I watched her put her mask back on and go back into the world like she was all alone and I couldn't even bring myself to whisper ... me too."


Later
That was the genesis of the movement -- to help young women of color who had survived sexual abuse, assault and exploitation.

"On one side, it's a bold declarative statement that 'I'm not ashamed' and 'I'm not alone.' On the other side, it's a statement from survivor to survivor that says 'I see you, I hear you, I understand you and I'm here for you or I get it,'" she told CNN.

The movement has taken a life of its own, Burke said.

Continued ~

[guillaumeb]

3. Welcome to DU, and it is an interesting story.

And the work she is doing is incredibly important.

[Bfd]

4. Thanks. And yes, to be so committed to a just cause your entire life, at the level she is, speaks to

this exceptional person.

And she's still standing here, moving mountains one at a time.

[trotsky]

5. Brett Kavanaugh's life is also grounded in his faith.

Neat how that works.

[guillaumeb]

6. Classic whataboutism.

You ignored the actual topic to introduce another topic.

[trotsky]

7. What's good for the goose... n/t

[guillaumeb]

8. Considering how often you engage in it,

I must admit to not being surprised that you did it here.

[trotsky]

9. I respond to you as you deserve.

You stop using whataboutism, and then you can call for others to stop.

Until then, it's just hypocrisy.

[guillaumeb]

10. If you understood the fallacy,

you would understand why your claim against me is fallacious.

[trotsky]

11. Uh huh.

Keep digging.

[guillaumeb]

12. Try some research.

Specifically, look at the tu quoque and whataboutism fallacies.

[trotsky]

13. I already know more about them than you do.

Keep digging.

[guillaumeb]

16. Self confidence can be a good thing,

but not in this case, or I would not have suggested the research.

[trotsky]

23. Your inability to express an actual understanding of the topics...

indicates that it is not I who needs to conduct research.

[guillaumeb]

25. And your whataboutism, and tu quoque,

indicates that you are determined to distract from the actual topic in favor of your preferred narrative.

[trotsky]

28. Thank you for continuing to confirm you have no idea what you're talking about.

It is nice you do all the work of discrediting yourself so I don't have to. No wonder no one takes you seriously.

[guillaumeb]

34. And now, you add in some ad hominem attack.

Your preferred method of discussion?

Again, you will not comment on the actual article, possibly because it reflects positively on a theist. Further confirmation that the 11th Commandment is such an apt description of what passes for discussion here.

[trotsky]

36. DOUBLE BINGO!

Thanks gil!

[marylandblue]

14. You forgot to ask if his intent was to distract from the topic.

[trotsky]

15. LOL n/t

[guillaumeb]

17. There was no need.

[marylandblue]

18. So you know his intent by mind reading?

[guillaumeb]

19. Indeed. eom

[Mariana]

21. He has faith. nt.

[Permanut]

20. As was Mohammed Atta's..

and Hitler, of course, claimed several times that he was doing God's work.

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. "You can't do this kind of work without being grounded in a faith that showed possibilities."

I look forward to your next exciting, overt display of bigotry.

[guillaumeb]

24. And I do not look forward to your next display of misunderstanding.

[sprinkleeninow]

26. They cannot help themselves.

[guillaumeb]

32. It certainly seems so. eom

[sprinkleeninow]

39. 'Someone' says "dejected"? Come. On. 🙄

[guillaumeb]

40. No, I am not dejected.

Simply realistic. It is obvious that for a few, there can be no dialogue about theism that is not dismissive and negative.

[sprinkleeninow]

41. I know that. What a choice of words was used. 😏

Some have no need for dialogue.
Resembling more like contention. 🤔

[Act_of_Reparation]

27. Well, if this simple exchange has you this dejected...

...maybe helping people in much more difficult situations takes more than faith.

[trotsky]

30. Theistic fragility.

guillaumeb is perhaps the best example of it I've ever seen.

[guillaumeb]

33. I remember when you posted that I had "ruined DU" for you.

I also remember a rather cartoonish post where the poster claimed to be outraged because an older lady handed the poster a leaflet.

[trotsky]

35. I don't remember that. Perhaps you could link to where I said that.

Theistic fragility. By golly, I think I've hit a nerve.

[guillaumeb]

37. And now you do not remember.

I am not surprised. You did not remember other things either, until I posted links to them.

[trotsky]

38. No, I don't remember everything I've said. Shocking, huh? We can't all have your perfect memory.

You claim I said something - you need to prove it. Go ahead and post the link.

[trotsky]

29. Atheists can't be activists, I guess.

We should be grateful to our theistic superiors doing all the work. /s

[Act_of_Reparation]

31. There are no atheists in foxholes, trotsky.

Without faith in the invisible sky wizard, we couldn't face a single moment's adversity without collapsing into jelly. Really, it is amazing I manage to get up in the morning.