Talking About Black Lives Matter and #MeToo

69 Pages Posted: 18 Aug 2020 Last revised: 23 Sep 2021

See all articles by Linda S. Greene

Linda S. Greene

University of Wisconsin Law School

Lolita Buckner Inniss

University of Colorado Law School

Bridget J. Crawford

Pace University School of Law

Mehrsa Baradaran

University of California, Irvine School of Law

Noa Ben-Asher

St. John's University - School of Law

I. Bennett Capers

Fordham University School of Law

Osamudia R. James

University of North Carolina School of Law

Keisha Lindsay

University of Wisconsin-MAdison

Date Written: August 11, 2019

Abstract

This essay explores the apparent differences and similarities between the Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movements. In April 2019, the Wisconsin Journal of Gender, Law and Society hosted a symposium entitled “Race-Ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Black Lives Matter and the Role of Intersectional Legal Analysis in the Twenty-First Century.” That program facilitated examination of the historical antecedents, cultural contexts, methods, and goals of these linked equality movements. Conversations continued among the symposium participants long after the end of the official program. In this essay, the symposium’s speakers memorialize their robust conversations and also dive more deeply into the phenomena, implications, and future of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo.

This essay organizes around internal and external spatial metaphors and makes five schematic moves. First, internal considerations ground comparisons of the definitions, goals, and ideas of success employed by or applied to Black Lives Matter and #MeToo. Second, external concerns inspire questions about whether both movements may be better understood through the lens of intersectionality, and relatedly, what challenges these movements pose for an intersectional analysis. Third, a meta-internal framework invites inquiry into how the movements shape the daily work of scholars, teachers, lawyers, and community activists. Fourth, a dialectical external-internal frame drives questions about the movements’ effects on law and popular culture, and the reciprocal effects between those external influences and the movements themselves. Returning to an external, even forward-looking, approach, we ask what the next steps are for both movements. This five-part taxonomy frames the inquiry into where the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements are located individually, but also where they are co-located, and, perhaps most importantly, where they are going.

Keywords: black lives matter, MeToo, race, gender, sexual harassment, police violence, civil rights, equality, justice

JEL Classification: K1, K10, K14, K19

Suggested Citation

Greene, Linda S. and Buckner Inniss, Lolita and Crawford, Bridget J. and Baradaran, Mehrsa and Ben-Asher, Noa and Capers, I. Bennett and James, Osamudia R. and Lindsay, Keisha, Talking About Black Lives Matter and #MeToo (August 11, 2019). 32 Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender & Society 1 (2019), SMU Dedman School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 436, University of Miami Legal Studies Research Paper, Forthcoming, UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2021-52, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3436425

Linda S. Greene

University of Wisconsin Law School ( email )

975 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
United States

Lolita Buckner Inniss

University of Colorado Law School

401 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
United States

Bridget J. Crawford (Contact Author)

Pace University School of Law ( email )

78 North Broadway
White Plains, NY 10603
United States

Mehrsa Baradaran

University of California, Irvine School of Law ( email )

401 E. Peltason Dr.
Ste. 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-1000
United States

Noa Ben-Asher

St. John's University - School of Law ( email )

8000 Utopia Parkway
Jamaica, NY 11439
United States

I. Bennett Capers

Fordham University School of Law ( email )

140 West 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
United States

Osamudia R. James

University of North Carolina School of Law ( email )

160 Ridge Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
United States

Keisha Lindsay

University of Wisconsin-MAdison ( email )

Madison, WI 53706
United States

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