You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience

You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience details the unique relationship that members of Black communities have with shame and vulnerability. Editor Tarana Burke is credited with starting the #MeToo Movement during her work with young girls in Selma, Alabama. Burke encountered countless young women who had experienced sexual violence and abuse. She wanted to offer them a safe space where they could share their stories and find resources. The #MeToo Movement was a way for her to use the power of empathy to help women feel supported.

In 2017, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted in response to allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein. She asked her followers to share their own experiences with sexual abuse, harassment, and violence by using the hashtag #metoo. Milano says that her friend sent her a screenshot of Burke’s use of the phrase, and she was inspired to write the tweet while thinking about her children. That year, Time Magazine named “The Silence Breakers” as the 2017 TIME Person of the Year. These silence breakers were the women who chose to speak out against sexual harassment and assault.

As Milano’s message spread, the focus of the #MeToo Movement centered on the media and entertainment industries. However, it did not take long for individuals in all fields of work to voice their struggles. In the interview for TIME’s 2017 Person of the Year, Burke asserts that it is important to uphold marginalized voices as a catalyst for change. Burke began the #MeToo Movement to highlight the pervasiveness of sexual abuse of women in all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Burke felt it was important to remember that the #MeToo Movement was about more than wealthy celebrities; the reality of sexual abuse is that it disproportionately affects women of color and women in lower socioeconomic situations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that women of racial and ethnic groups are at a much higher risk of experiencing sexual violence. A report by the US Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2013 titled “Female Victims of Sexual Violence, 1994-2010,” revealed that lower-income women experience the highest rates of sexual violence. In an interview with The New York Times, actor Gabrielle Union agreed, explaining: “I think the floodgates have opened for white women. I don’t think it’s a coincidence whose pain has been taken seriously” (Krischer, Hayley. “We’re Going to Need More Gabrielle Union.” The New York Times, 2017). While Burke was happy that attention was being drawn to the cause, she was frustrated that marginalized voices were being left out of the conversation.

Burke’s work contextualizes sexual violence by examining its relationship to power, arguing that power dynamics operate in all elements of society. Even advocacy for systemic change is impacted by power dynamics. In a 2017 interview with Elle Magazine, Burke admits that it is frustrating that it took the voice of white women to amplify awareness of an issue that Black women had been actively working to dismantle. She expresses the importance of inclusivity in discussions about systems of power and oppression: “If we are not representing marginali[z]ed voices then it’s all for nothing” (Murray, Daisy. “‘Empowerment Through Empathy’ - We Spoke to Tarana Burke, the Woman Who Really Started the ‘Me Too’ Movement.” Elle Magazine, 2017). Burke explains that sexual violence is a symptom of the larger power dynamic, patriarchy, that supports violence against women and racism.

You Are Your Best Thing continues Burke’s advocacy for the importance of marginalized individuals’ stories and her critique of the relationship between patriarchal power and sexual violence. Burke believes that Brené Brown’s research on shame and vulnerability is important and that it can unlock the systemic trauma that has restricted the lives of so many people of color. However, Burke recognizes once more that there is a need for Black voices in Brown’s work. You Are Your Best Thing attempts to bridge this gap, and is an anthology of experiences with shame and vulnerability written by Black writers.