Y'all, this!! 💕 I had always wondered where this #metoo movement came from and hesitated to participate because it seemed like just another trendy thing happening on social media. The truth of the matter is that it goes much deeper than a tweet. Tarana had been working on this project for years, but not as a way to give attention to perpetrators, but to provide brave space of healing for women and girls who are survivors of sexual assault.
So, what happened?
A tweet was posted by a white woman, it went viral and now all of a sudden the perpetrators are getting attention. Women are posting all over the place but there is no action plan of care for these women and girls, it spirals and becomes just another trend. I'm not downplaying any one story, what I'm saying is that if we want to have collective change in the world, to expose acts of sexual violence and any other thing, there are tactics to do that much bigger than trends. Set resources, let the change be intentional, practice intersectionality and see where the work is being done along other lines and build relationship there so as a collective, women and girls can heal. As a white woman I recognize that it is embedded within my own whiteness to want to save the world and that is a deeply embedded within my ego. The systematic world in which we live seems to bring more attention to what white women say and do that is 'saving' over what people of color are doing, and have been doing for years within the community. From where I stand, it seems a very privileged side of the street. What can we do to integrate with each other, to walk this street together in solidarity for the greater wellness of the world?
Here is a piece from the CTZNWELL Podcast with Tarana Burke: "As you will hear, we covered so much ground and really got to the heart of what #MeToo is all about. How the movement actually began over a decade ago in Alabama to support brown and black survivors of sexual violence, and how what we really need to teach our girls is who they are beyond what society tells them they should be, and how if we're not centering the voices of marginalized people, then we are doing the wrong work. The story of how #MeToo came to be is symbolic of that point. Tarana's efforts were almost erased when white popular women put #MeToo on the map.
But this is not just a movement for white cisgender women. It's about giving young people language, people who are survivors a way forward, and the community coming together to combat sexual assault. Tarana's vision is much bigger than hashtags and callouts. She believes #MeToo is a way to radicalize the notion of mass healing. While the recent iteration in social media has put attention on the perpetrators, Tarana is putting survivors at the forefront of this movement, and uplifting radical community healing as a social justice issue.
And on that, we could not agree more. If we are not healing, we are not transforming, and it starts with healing marginalized communities to achieve the inclusivity the #MeToo movement strives for. Tarana set this movement in motion well before the Harvey Weinstein scandal or the Alyssa Milano tweet or the Time's Up campaign. She is a visionary, a healer, a joyful revolutionary, and we need to follow her, because she is leading us towards the personal and collective healing that we all need to transform our communities and our country. Have a listen."
Find the full podcast and more at http://www.ctznwell.org/ctznpodcast/004-tarana-burke
So, as yogi's what does this mean for us?
It means that is we are going to talk about oneness, then we need to truly open our eyes to what we may not know, based on a privilege, as to how we can do better for the collective. When we offer Namaste, how can we step up and truly mean that. There is no more sitting on the sidelines, and trust me, I came up with every excuse I could to sit there... It's time to see how you show up in the conversation around oppression, and what you are doing to add to it. We can never know how our intentions will land with others, but we can set our intentions are pure as possible and see what unfolds. It may start off with personal development, simply by listening to others stories... maybe it shifts to social and you decide to take action in your community... maybe you are the type to tackle systems... there is room for all of it, but you cannot ignore it any longer.
I'll challenge you to something bigger and deeper than an "asana pose off"... I'll challenge you to reach out to other facets of your community that may be marginalized and what you can learn. The work is messy and I get it wrong and you will too, but are you willing to step into that fire of tapas, in order to begin truly coming to a place of oneness?