‘The movement will persist’: Advocates stress Weinstein reversal doesn’t derail #MeToo reckoning
NEW YORK (AP) — #MeToo founder Tarana Burke has heard it before. Every time there’s a legal setback, the movement is declared dead in the water. A legal success, and presto, it’s alive again.
So Burke, who nearly two decades ago coined the phrase “Me too” from her work with sexual assault survivors, found herself again declaring after New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction: The #MeToo reckoning is greater than any court case. It’s still there, and it’s working.
The most obvious proof, Burke said: “Ten years ago we could not get a man like Harvey Weinstein into the courtroom.”
The movement, she said, was responsible for that huge cultural shift — regardless of the Hollywood mogul’s ultimate legal fate.
Also seeking to take the long view, following a legal setback that stunned many survivors and advocates, was Anita Hill. She testified against Clarence Thomas during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, becoming the face of the fight against sexual harassment more than a quarter-century before the Weinstein revelations launched the #MeToo movement.