“Me Too”: Two Latina Actresses Expose Story of Sexual and Racial Abuse
The “Me Too” movement is just getting started
The “Me Too” movement is just getting started. Ten years since activist Tarana Burke began the “me too” campaign, and days since actress Alyssa Milano revitalized it, women’s stories continue to be brought to light. “Me too”–in which people share their personal trauma in order to alleviate shame and bond with others with similar experiences–continues to show the magnitude of assaults against women (and men too). The type of assaults range from sexual to emotional and even racial, but can extend to a multitude of psychological levels.
Actress America Ferrera posted on Instagram her personal and heartbreaking story of abuse: “First time I can remember being sexually assaulted I was 9 years old. I told no one and lived with the shame and guilt thinking all along that I, a 9-year-old child, was somehow responsible for the actions of a grown man. I had to see this man on a daily basis for years to come. He would smile at me and wave, and I would hurry past him, my blood running cold, my guts carrying the burden of what only he & I knew — that he expected me to shut my mouth and smile back.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXto5H5DUab/?taken-by=americaferrera
On Twitter, actress Vanessa Marquez, who is notable for her role in Stand and Deliver, wrote that she was blacklisted from Hollywood after she complained about being sexually assaulted by cast members when she worked on the show ER. She tweeted that other cast members were racially insensitive towards her every day on the set.
She tweeted that actors on the set, which she named as actor Eriq La Salle and a crew member named Terence Nightingall, sexually assaulted her, and actors Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle and Julianna Marguiles made racist jokes at her expense.
“Sexual(p–sy grabbing)&racial.Mexican jokes EVERY day.Happened to all the women.They chose 2b victims. I fought! #Blacklisted,” she tweeted.
George Clooney responded to her claims that he blacklisted her saying: “I had no idea Vanessa was blacklisted,” Clooney said to Us Weekly. “I take her at her word. I was not a writer or a producer or a director on that show. I had nothing to do with casting. I was an actor and only an actor. If she was told I was involved in any decision about her career then she was lied to. The fact that I couldn’t affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn’t.”
