An open letter supporting Megan Thee Stallion and condemning violence towards ladies was launched by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Deliberate Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, Tamika Mallory, Angela Rye, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, amongst different outstanding figures.
The total letter is on the market under.
Pricey Megan,
You might be bigger than life in some ways; your title is in lights, your face on billboards, your songs within the historical past books…and that is nonetheless only the start of your story. In a really brief period of time, you’ve achieved success in all probability past your wildest desires, and plainly every day brings a brand new announcement about one thing wonderful you’ve performed or are getting ready to do. Ladies all around the world think about you an inspiration, partially since you make them be ok with themselves. You’re a particular sort of expertise and a particular sort of particular person; the place you maintain in your followers’ hearts is a testomony to that.
As you’ve risen to the highest, you’ve additionally needed to endure loads of obstacles alongside the way in which. Within the face of triumph and tragedy alike, you all the time preserve your head held excessive, preserve your poise, and push ahead. Nonetheless, whereas so many people rejoice you on your power and perseverance, it should be mentioned that you’ve got been handled in ways in which no younger lady–no particular person in any respect–must be handled.
It should be mentioned that our tradition has failed you, one in all its most brightly shining daughters. In July of 2020, you skilled a violation of the very best order by the hands of somebody whom you thought-about a pal. Since then, you’ve needed to endure public harassment and taunting not solely from that particular person however from others selecting to face with him. Bloggers have circulated rumors and excitedly reported on essentially the most traumatic expertise of your life as if it have been juicy gossip, usually perpetuating the concept that you’ve bought a motive to lie, that you simply shouldn’t be believed. You’ve constantly been clear about what occurred to you, however as a substitute of being met with widespread assist, individuals who ought to have had your again have chosen to remain out of the matter.
You don’t deserve any of this, Megan. You need to be heard, to be believed, and most significantly, to be protected.
There is no such thing as a quantity of energy or status that may stop a lady from changing into a sufferer of violence and there’s no degree of feat that exempts ladies from our society’s complacency with that violence.
Chances are you’ll be a boss, the “sizzling lady coach,” and a bonafide famous person, however that doesn’t imply that you simply don’t expertise ache. Nobody is simply too ‘unhealthy,’ too well-known, too highly effective to really feel harm. You’ve needed to navigate this deeply tough expertise within the public eye, and whilst you’ve managed to face sturdy and to maintain exhibiting as much as work regardless of all of it, it could’t be understated how unfair it’s that you simply’re on this place to start with.
Violence towards ladies remains to be solely too frequent and acceptable in our world. We make excuse after excuse to elucidate away even essentially the most heinous acts, particularly when the particular person accused is a star of any kind. Being a star, nonetheless, is not going to assure a lady any sympathy when she is a sufferer.
Black ladies are additionally usually fearful of what is going to occur to their assailant in the event that they select to contain the regulation–as you your self have been afraid to do–and are left unprotected by the system and the neighborhood alike. If somebody as influential as you may be belittled and mocked as nothing however a liar for standing up for herself, that speaks a quantity about what a lady who doesn’t have your assets or fame can anticipate to endure when she’s discovered herself in the same place.
An estimated one in three ladies worldwide has been the sufferer of sexual and/or home violence. Right here in the US, the numbers are greater for Black ladies, who additionally expertise psychological abuse–reminiscent of humiliation, name-calling, and insults–at an elevated price. Ladies of all races, cis and trans, are struggling every day and we’re all too complacent. From day one, you deserved a refrain of voices saying, “We imagine you, Megan,” and although it’s possible you’ll not have been in a position to hear us sooner, know that we’re with you now and each step of the way in which as you proceed to heal from this tragedy. We’re dedicated to creating the world safer for you and all ladies, and one of many vital steps that we should take to get there’s to make it so that ladies who’ve been victims of violence can discuss their experiences with out being attacked or dismissed.
You’ve been so sturdy, Megan, however that’s not what we must always demand nor anticipate from you. You deserve the area to cry, mourn and heal as you see match with out having to fret about being judged for having a human response to a private tragedy.
Even within the midst of your personal traumatic expertise and therapeutic, you acknowledged that different women wanted to expertise pleasure and partnered with Southern Black Ladies and Ladies’s Consortium on the inaugural Pleasure Is Our Journey tour impacting hundreds of women throughout the south. You may have remained dedicated to the main focus of psychological well being and nicely being in our neighborhood even when your personal has been minimized, marginalized, and deemphasized. We would like you to know that you’re vital and also you matter to us and to tens of millions of ladies across the globe. Your life issues. Your work issues. Your pleasure issues. You deserve pleasure. We stand with you.
We salute you for the bravery it has taken to defend your self within the court docket of public opinion, although you shouldn’t have had to take action in any respect. We increase our voices towards those that have made gentle of this heinous instance of violence towards ladies and can drown them out with our calls for for society to take what occurs to Black ladies critically. You aren’t alone. You might be believed, cherished, and supported.
We stand with you Megan.
The entire checklist of signees to the open letter is listed under:
Dr. Brenda Allen, Lincoln College PA
LaTosha Brown, Southern Black Ladies & Ladies’s Consortium
Laura Brown, LB Media
Tarana Burke, ‘me too’ Worldwide
Ethel Cain
Taylor Crumpton, Cultural Critic and Author
Dr. Tiffany Crutcher, Terence Crutcher Basis
Allisa Findley, Sisters of the Motion
Okay.C. Fox, Sisters of the Motion
Angella Henry, DJ Henry Dream Fund
Marc Lamont Hill, Temple College Professor/Journalist
Jessica Jackson
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Chair, Home Judiciary Crime Committee (Tx. 18th)
Renee Jarvis, Triangle Home Literary
Alice Eason Jenkins, Southern Black Ladies and Ladies’s Consortium
Michelle Kenney, Antwon Rose II Basis
Felecia Fortunate, Black Belt Neighborhood Basis
Tamika D. Mallory, Till Freedom
Alexis McGill Johnson, Deliberate Parenthood Federation of America
Margo Miller, Appalachian Neighborhood Fund
Carmen Perez-Jordan, The Gathering for Justice
Angela Rye, IMPACT Methods
Dr. Topeka Okay. Sam, The Girls of Hope Ministries, INC.
Beverly Smith, SiriusXM
L Pleasure Williams
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Home Monetary Companies
