Stop Telling People to “Speak Their Truth”

Truth doesn’t take a possessive pronoun

Oprah Winfrey famously popularized the saying “speak your truth.” Over the last few decades, this phrase has become ubiquitous in our popular culture. And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for “activism rooted in the individual story, grounded in personal experience,” as Garance Franke-Ruta has said. But then tell me about your experience and your interpretation of events. Don’t tell me your truth. Truth refers to our shared reality. If everyone gets to define truth for themselves then, as Conor…