TIME 100’s Tarana Burke: ‘I Raise My Glass to Survivors’

So first I have to start by, in the black conscious community, whenever we gather to celebrate, we bring the names of our ancestors into the room, and so I want to bring the name of my grandfather, Joseph Burke; my great‑grandmother Abel Williams; my Aunt Mertis James; and my stepfather Wesley Thompson, into the room.

And so I have a lot of people who have inspired me through my life, but I think this moment is really important for me to raise a glass to all the black and brown girls around the world, particularly the black and brown girls like me. I raise a glass to six‑year‑old Tarana, who was confused and didn’t know about the things that had been happening to her and spent years and years and years trying to figure it out until somebody else let me know that I was not alone and gave me the courage to tell other people that they’re not alone.

And so I raise my glass to survivors, I raise my glass to little black and brown girls like me. Hopefully they look at me in this moment and they find hope and they’re inspired, and they know that they’re not alone and they’ll never be alone as long as I have a microphone.