Tarana Burke – the founder of the #MeToo movement – is under fire from critics for her failure to outright denounce former Vice President Joe Biden and other powerful white men accused of sexual assault, reported the HuffPost.
In a series of tweets Tuesday, Burke addressed Tara Reade’s accusation that Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 while she was working as one of his aides. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s campaign has denied the allegations.
“My stance has never wavered: survivors have a right to speak their truth and to be given the space to heal,” Burke wrote after stating she’d taken some time away to deal with her family because they were affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus.
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“The inconvenient truth is that this story is impacting us differently because it hits at the heart of one of the most important elections of our lifetime,” Burke continued. “And I hate to disappoint you but I don’t really have easy answers.”
“There are no perfect survivors. And no one, especially a presidential candidate, is beyond reproach. So where does that leave us?” she asked.
Though she blasted the system’s failure to properly protect sexual assault victims, she stopped short of condemning Biden, instead saying he should be helped “accountable.”but rather be accountable.
Her words weren’t received well by critics who believe she was still trying to give Biden a pass because of his political standing.
“There is no “on the other hand” when it comes to women being believed. There is no defense of Biden because he has not even personally addressed this. This is where you lost me,” wrote a Twitter user identified as Yaelisa in response.
“Reminder to all men who likes to get handsy with with woman. You can actually get away with vile things like sexual assault if you run for President as a democrat and say bad things about the republican nominee that #MeToo advocates don’t like,” a user identified as Hess Welsey sarcastically tweeted in response.
“Believe all women only if the accused is a Black man,” wrote another user.
Twitter lit up with a slew of other responses calling Burke a hypocrite who only went after Black men – or denounced powerful white men like Brett Kavanaugh when it was convenient.
