The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Tarana Burke on Working to End Sexual Violence via the Me Too Movement

Episode Date: October 7, 2019

Me Too movement founder Tarana Burke gives her take on Harvey Weinstein's indictment on sexual assault charges and discusses her advocacy for survivors of sexual violence. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, it's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting, you'll be saying to yourself, TGID, thank God it's Thursday. we're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth.

But in importance, it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Please welcome, Toronto Burke. Welcome, Toronto, Welcome to the show. Thank you. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. I'm happy. So, so honored to have you here. I was honored to be with you at the Time 100 Gala.

You were honored as one of Time 100's most influential people. Congratulations on that. It is well deserved. Yeah. Because you have become so synonymous with the Me Too movement and this idea of justice, we've just learned today that a New York grand jury indicted Harvey Weinstein on two counts of rape and a single counts of criminal acts. Yes. If convicted he faces up to 25 years in prison. Is this something that brings you joy or how do you react to a story when it culminates in this manner? You know, it's not it doesn't bring me personal joy I don't

you know this is not really what it's about and I've said this before it's just not really a moment to like celebrate how the mighty have fallen but it is cathartic for the survivors this is a moment for them to see a sense have a sense of relief for some of them to to the the the the their. their. their. their. their. to their. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. T is thi. thi. T is not thi. T is not thi. It's not thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It is is is is not is is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not is not thi. It is not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not thi. It's not don't feel like it's justice. And there are others who feel a little bit tenuous because it's going to mark the beginning of them having to be dragged through a trial process, where his attorneys are going to try their best to diminish them and to make them seem like they were complicit. Right.

And that's something I think a lot of people forget to forget to forget their their their thape tho thi thi thi thi th women are at the beginning of their journey where now people will probe them, people will make them out to be liars. When you look at the Me Too movement, when you started your program, what was your initial goal? Our goal was really to work with black and brown girls in the South who are survivors of sexual violence, to speak healing into their lives, to let them know that healing was possible and let th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, tho, their, tho, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, tho, tho, thr.e.e.e.e.e.eate. Wea. toge, toge, tho, tho.a, thoooooo.e.e. the. th healing into their lives, to let them know that healing was possible and let them know that they weren't alone. And it just grew from there,

it grew from working with young girls to grown women. We realize, oh, we're survivors of sexual violence, so there's others like us. And it's really been focused on what survivors need to the teivirers need to start a to to to to has been about. And also working to end sexual violence. And if you if you look at this world that we live in now, the Me Too movement has become synonymous with men being brought down. Right. I often hear people say the phrase, oh Me Too claims another victim or another win for Me Too? Do you think that's the right way to frame it? Do you think maybe people are missing the point of what Me to is is is is means means means means means means means means means means means means means means means means means means means.... to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to, thi. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, me to, to, to, the point of what Me Too is meant to inspire? Absolutely. It feels like playing a whack-a-mole after a while, right? It's like who's the next person

Me-2 is going to take down? And that's not really our focus. If as a byproduct of people coming forward and telling their truth, then there's justice that our goal is really to support the survivors and to make sure survivors are in a place of leadership in the work to end sexual violence. It's not about taking down powerful men. And it's not a woman's movement either. That's another sort of misconception. It's a movement for survivors. You made headlines recently when you were in Harlem, I believe, at a restaurant and they were playing R. Kelly.

And you asked them to stop playing the R.Kelley song. And then you reached out to prominent radio, DJs, and you said, hey, help us. Help us to mute RKellie. That grew into a movement, which culminated in Spotify, for instance, saying, hey, we're going to remove him from playlists, etc. Could you explain the why in and around that? Like, why was that so important to you? If some people say, but oh, it's the music, it's not him.

Why was that so important to you? Well, first, I didn't start the Mute Archelie, so I want to be clear about that. I have been talking about and speaking out against Archelie. that was started by these two other black women that I support really enthusiastically. But the issue is not just about Arkele. The way that he makes his money is through his music and through performances. If we continue to support him,

he uses that money to the detriment of these black and brown girls that he's been praying on for 20 years. And so it's about making sure he doesn't have the resources to do that, but it's also because he symbolizes a greater thing. There are Akeleys in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our schools, and our churches. He represents a thing that we can't touch. We can't stop.

We cannot get people to pay attention to the plight of sexual violence against black and brown girls. And Arkell is a perfect example of it. Do you think that if Arkelli's victims were a different race, there would have been a movement that was far more powerful against him? I think if Arkele's victims were white girls, I think if they were black boys, that there would be a movement against him

that would have started and ended 10, 15, 20 years ago. I think specifically because it's black and brown girls, that it has been slow because we think about black and brown girls differently. It's interesting because I see these parallels across many, many groups. You know, there isn't one particular group where there is more praying or there is more sexual assault. It feels like you find this across cultures, but one thing I've come and you'll correct me if I'm wrong.

I've come to find that predominantly in cultures of color, there is an idea that we shouldn't speak about these things. I remember growing up, you know, if an uncle was accused of abusing a young girl, then the girl would get into trouble. How do you begin these conversations in communities of color? How do you get people on your side and realize that the community has to work from the inside? I feel like I've th. th. the the th. the the th. the the th. th. the the th. th. the the th. the the th. to to to to to to the the, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll, I'm, I'll, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, their, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, correct, to, to, to, toeeee. I'll, toe said this before we have to have to be able to hold two truth at the same time or more than one truth, right? And I'll speak about the black community specifically. I think in the black community we are so focused on the fact that there is a true history of's no question about it. History, you know, supports that. But it's also true that in every community, the people who commit sexual violence except for the native community, by and large, are from that

community. And so if that's true, and we know that black women are sexually assaulted and victims of sexual violence, then it happens by and large at the hands of black men. And so we have to unravel this idea that we have to be silent to protect our men, and we have to protect our community from this. And we also have to dismantle these notions we have about womanhood and sexuality, and you know, that a girl develops and she gets a body, and all of a sudden she's solely responsible for protecting herself,

right? It becomes her fault that she develops a breast and behind and you know, grown men find her attractive. And then we give, you know, what happens in our community, I'm sure in African communities as well as American communities, you get these rules, right? Don't sit in anybody's lap. Don't let anybody touch your private parts. All of the rules, all the oneness is on the child. But what we don't say very often is if those rules are broken, it's not your fall. You're not the one responsible. The adults are wholly responsible for making sure that you're safe. That's what we have to

unpack. We have to start unpacking those things in our community and have an honest conversations really. It's not, you cannot put a a person's talent over somebody's humanity. That's just insane. Wow. When we talk about the Me Too movements, I'm always intrigued by that word, movements at the end of it. Where do you believe we are moving towards? Where would you like to see the country and people in different communities move towards?

I know that you have a few projects that you're working on? Yeah, I mean, because Me Too too me 2 me to to to to to be to be to be to be to be to be to be too too too too too too too too too too too too too too too too the too the the the too the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the that you're working on. Yeah, I mean, because Me Too went viral online and via Twitter and Facebook and social media, I think it's important for us to have an online platform for people to get resources. And so one of the things we're building is this online platform that will be able to provide survivors of sexual violence and their allies with resources to start trying to figure out what healing could look like for them. But it's also to to to? The thing that people forget is that we are millions and millions strong across the world. That is a power base. And so we also want to provide tools for people to get active in their communities because we have the power to interrupt sexual violence.

So when I think of movement, I think us moving towards a world where we can end or at least very much interrupt sexual violence and that can happen and be driven by the survivors. There's so many of us. Right. You know and so that's where we're moving towards. We haven't seen a culture shift yet. I think that we have seen a culture starting to move in a different direction, but a true culture shift won't happen until we are re-socialized about how we think about sexual violence and how we engage with each other and how we talk to each other, how we take apart rape culture. Like those things have to happen and then we'll see a culture shift. I can only say I'm proud to have sat with you and I think you're an amazing person who's doing the most phenomenal job.

Thank you. I'm excited to see where the movement goes. Thank you so much. Toronto, Brooke, everybody. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, the weekly show coming out every Thursday.

We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart wherever you get your podcast.