My name is Patrisse Cullors
I'm Tarana Burke
I am one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter
I'm the founder of the #MeToo Movement
Living in a small city,
looking everyday in the faces of these black and brown girls that
we were working with,
seeing visibly seeing the trauma that
they were holding & feeling like I don't have
a way to help
I don't have resources
For me, a turning point was going to the local rape crisis center in Selma
and having this white woman come to the door
not let me in, and say to me
"How can I help you?"
and I said, you know, "I just want to find out about what y'all do here"
She said, "We don't take walk-ins"
If you have a situation, you have to go to the police station,
fill out a report and then somebody will meet you there.
In that moment, I'm like these children need a thing
and nobody's trying to provide it,
Not in our community, or outside of our community and
so, that was a spark.
The acquittal of George Zimmerman
and the just, clarity that I received in that moment.
I remember just feeling
that, that couldn't be the period to the story.
That George Zimmerman couldn't just go home
and that's how history books we're gonna be written
That's the birth of Black Lives Matter
Most of us start this work because we're angry.
We're angry about what's been done to us.
We're angry about what we witnessed.
We're angry about what we continue to witness.
What hasn't been intervened on.
Anger is probably a small part of the arsenal,
you know, it's sort of a jump off or a place where you can get a spark
but it's driven, the rest of it is driven, by love and compassion,
and humanity, and humility.
Anger can't drive you...
and also, I think in both #MeToo and the Black Lives Matter,
that people don't understand it
there's also an undergirding of joy
We're not angrily saying Black Lives Matter
We're declaring it, it's a declaration.
We want to be seen as a robust, full, human beings
that have anger and have joy...
Yes!
and we want to be able to just freely have that joy, you know?
The first thing we did is, we actually called our own folks.
Organizations and community members, and said
"What do you think about this?"
Obviously, a lot of black folks were like, "Finally!"
Finally we're saying 'black' instead
Yes, explicitly. - Exactly, and unapologetically, and not
just saying 'People of Color'
Obama is the president now...you know
White folks thought that racism was over
and Black Lives Matter came in to have another conversation.
That actually racism is not at all over,
and we get to deal with it.
We have to deal with it...
and we have to take it to the streets!
I actually don't really like to use that word,
because I don't feel like I'm inspiring anybody to do anything.
I feel like I'm trying to lead with examples.
Oh my goodness!
I totally agree with that.
I think the idea of someone coming in and
inspiring people to do something,
it's kind of like an old model, right?
It's like someone comes in who knows better,
and they share what they know, and
then you go up
but I argue that we already know.
Our communities know very well what we need,
and so really I'm just trying to be a model
for what's possible.
I think we can't be the ones to declare that we're inspiring somebody!
If somebody happens to be inspired by what they see,
then that's for them to decide & to declare on their own...
but I think that, yeah, we have to be living examples.
I think some people think
especially when you get to sort of a level of visibility,
that this is the 'easy work'.
This is exhausting!
It is time away from our families,
time away from ourselves.
We are in a lot of ways, really being seen as sort of
almost like an elected official sometimes,
where we are being asked to do things for people...
and I either have to be me, or I have to be
what other people dictate me to be,
and I can't...we can't live like that.
- No, and we shouldn't!
because that goes back to the piece around inspiring.
It's not modeling!
I don't want to model that.
I don't want to live double lives
I think publicly declaring that mistakes are part of how we grow
and how we heal, is absolutely necessary
After young people ask me, "How do I do what you did?"
and I always say "Pick your issue," right?
What are you feeling most passionate about?
What do you feel like is something that you actually want to deal with?
I know where I live in LA,
students are dealing with being randomly searched inside their schools.
I think the first step for people who want to do this work
in any longtime capacity,
is to get some tools
Get some education
We have an extensive political education
and extensive on-the-ground, hands-on education
and so I think it's really important
for people to seek that out.
Read books, talk to people who are older than you,
talk to people who are younger than you,
find what your issue is, and then immerse yourself in them.
Beyond your own experience.