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It was a phrase Meena Harris referred to multiple times: Understanding the power of language.<\/p>\nIt was a phrase Meena Harris referred to multiple times: Understanding the power of language.<\/p>\n
Recognized as an influential voice for women\u2019s equality, Harris\u2014the founder and CEO of an apparel company and a New York Times<\/em> bestselling author\u2014was the keynote speaker Friday for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga\u2019s annual MLK Day 2021 celebration.<\/p>\n Speaking to the UTC campus community via Zoom, Harris answered questions on a wide array of topics, including Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s legacy and mission and her journey as an activist, entrepreneur, attorney, author and parent.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of what I do is inspired by family\u2014the family I grew up in and family that I’m now raising,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI was taught that ambition meant purpose, determination, hope, vision, having a dream and going for it, having a big dream and believing in it and believing in yourself to achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n In June 2020, she published a bestselling children\u2019s book, Kamala and Maya\u2019s Big Idea<\/em>, which is based on the story of her mother, Maya Harris, and her aunt Kamala Harris, now the vice president of the United States.<\/p>\n Her recently released second children\u2019s book, Ambitious Girl<\/em>, is \u201creally about the power of language, but it\u2019s also about the way in which language can be weaponized and used as a tool of harm and oppression,\u201d Harris said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the word ambition and ambitious, which we know is often a double standard in the way that it is used negatively against women.<\/p>\n \u201cFast forward to me going into the working world after college and seeing at that point for the first time that society tells us something very different. It\u2019s a double standard that we talk about\u2014ambition or female ambition\u2014that is in a way that is negative, almost like a dirty word. \u2018She\u2019s really ambitious, right.\u2019 It\u2019s meant at the basic level to cut women down to diminish our accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n And how does she envision changing the culture?<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be very clear and start young,\u201d she said. \u201cStarting young also means not only with our girls but with our boys. This is all about changing culture and how society views and respects women. It\u2019s very basic.<\/p>\n \u201cI joke that my next book is going to be an alphabet book. Ambition is obviously not the only one. Bossy. Competitive. I could literally go down the alphabet and easily name words that have been unfairly used against me, and I know a lot of other women can relate to that. So the essence of it is understanding the power of language.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris is the founder of the Phenomenal brand, which produces apparel emblazoned with social and motivational phrases. The Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign is a civic engagement and cross-media marketing platform that supports women\u2019s causes.<\/p>\n When asked about when she first became aware of King\u2019s mission, Harris responded, \u201cCan I say the womb as the very first understanding of his work and importance and legacy?\u201d She said she grew up in a social justice family, with fighting for equality always at the forefront.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing back to my family, understanding that to dare to succeed in a world that tells you that you are less than, or that you were different, or that because you are different, or because no one who looks like you has done what you were daring to do, that is by definition daring you to be ambitious, right?<\/p>\n \u201cWe have no choice but to be ambitious. That goes back to understanding what (King\u2019s) message was and what he was about. And it was about being bold and radical and yes\u2014having an ambitious dream and vision for the future. And further to that, not just having a dream and a vision, but doing the work to get there. And following that up with action and demands and accountability and all the things that we know are necessary to create a more just and equal world.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Harris\u2019 appearance on Zoom, renowned spoken word artist and educator Alex Tha Great\u2014the keynote speaker for an earlier program geared toward local high school and UTC students\u2014showed off her extraordinary poetry skills.<\/p>\n Alex Tha Great (given name Alexandria Gurley) has traveled around the country promoting social justice since 2011. She is the author of three books, the runner-up for the 2018 National Civil Rights Museum Drop the Mic Poetry Slam and a 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist.<\/p>\n Her poem to the UTC campus community spoke to the power of King\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n We are standing here on the precipice of a new day, eyes welling up with angst. Anxious for what it is, the dawn will hold.<\/em><\/p>\n At sunrise, we set our sights on a vision for change, looking out on the horizon armed with prayers and mighty faith, feet mired in the murky waters of muddled politics. And there is not one of us who can count ourselves unharmed.<\/em><\/p>\n But I dream of rivers calming, still ever-flowing a new day of reckoning. Water, fresh and purifying.<\/em><\/p>\n In my most vivid of dreams, I live in a state of pure euphoria where fantasy crosses over to reality, where we extend each other good grace, free from restrictions.<\/em><\/p>\n If we could love without limits, remove the iron branding of hate, and learn to celebrate all our differences. The only real division we need is between compassion and disdain.<\/em><\/p>\n