On December 6th. pop star Lizzo accepted the “People’s Champion Award” at the People’s Choice Awards 2022. But she did something very unique and special with her time on camera for her acceptance speech. She immediately switched the focus of the night off of her and onto the accomplishments of 17 activists, who she brought with her on stage. One by one, she introduced and proclaimed why their work was important.
You can watch the full speech below or you can watch the abridged, more shareable version on TikTok here.
CN: this video contains brief mentions of homelessness, hate crimes, loss of life due to mass shootings, abortion, gender violence, and racial violence. The video contains overall empowering, but emotional content.
I was brought to tears by how moving the display of power, skill, and dedication was. My first thought after I finished watching the speech was “I need to follow all these people on social media.” And my next thought was, “Other people should too.”
If you are interested in activism but unsure of how to go deeper, one of the first things I recommend you do is to follow marginalized people and activists that represent marginalized people on social media. Follow people that say things that make you feel uncomfortable, that you don’t fully understand, that you don’t agree with. If you want to avoid an echo chamber, don’t just follow bigots. Follow the people who actually have lived experiences you have not, and have things to say that you’ve never heard before.
So here’s my contribution to Lizzo’s amazing speech and the incredible work of all these activists. I have collated the social media handles and websites of all of them and put them in one place. Go follow them. All of them.
Note: In some cases, the instagram handle listed on Lizzo’s TikTok is for the organization the activist is associated with, but they also have an individual account. If it looks like they do activism on both and make the individual profile easy to find, then I’m including both. I also didn’t include accounts attached to these names that appears to be old, inactive, purely personal, or contained no content.
Mari Copeny
Website: https://www.maricopeny.com/
Twitter: @LittleMissFlint
Instagram: littlemissflint
Facebook: Mari Copeny
Tiktok: littlemissflint
Shirley Raines
Linktree: https://www.super.social/ss/shirley/
Twitter: @beauty2streetz
Instagram: beauty2thestreetz
Facebook: Shirley Raines
Tiktok: beauty2thestreetz
Yasmine Aker
Website: https://www.yasmineaker.com/
Twitter: @iamYasi
Instagram: iamyasi
Emiliana Guereca (Women’s March)
Website: https://www.womensmarchaction.com/
Twitter: @EmilianaGuereca
Instagram: wmnsmarchla
Facebook: Emiliana Guereca
Esther Young Lim
Website: https://www.hatecrimebook.com/
Instagram: essyli
Facebook: Esther Young Lim
Felicia ‘Fe’ Montes
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mujeresdemaiz
Twitter: @MujeresdeMaiz or @FeliciaFeMontes
Instagram: mujeresdemaiz or feevaone
Facebook: FE (Felicia Montes)
Jayla Rose Sullivan
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Jaylarose88
Instagram: jaylarosepdx
Facebook: Jayla Rose Sullivan
Tiktok: jaylarosepdx
Kara Roselle Smith
Gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nq6qpa
Instagram: kararoselles
Tiktok: kararoselles
Maggie Mireles
Gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/eva-mireles-uvaldes-hero
Instagram: mirelesm80
Facebook: Maggie Mireles-Thomas
Tiktok: magg_pie1
Amelia Bonow
Website: https://shoutyourabortion.com/
Twitter: @ameliabonow
Instagram: shoutyourabortion or ameliamaris
Facebook: Shout Your Abortion
Odilia Romero
Website: https://mycielo.org/links/
Twitter: @OdiliaRomero
Instagram: mycielo_org or odilia_yego
Facebook: Odilia Romero
Tarlan Rabizadeh
Twitter: @TarlanRabizadeh
Instagram: tarlanr
Facebook: Tarlan Rabizadeh
Sahar Pirzada
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/HEARTtogrow
Twitter: @hearttogrow or @saharpirzada
Instagram: hearttogrow or saharpirzada
Chandi Moore
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Transdivachandi
Twitter: @TransDivaChandi
Instagram: transdivachandi
Facebook: Chandi Moore (Chandelier)
Crystal Echo Hawk
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/cechohawk
Twitter: @IllumiNative or @CrystalEchoHawk
Instagram: illumination or crystalechohawk
Facebook: Crystal Echo Hawk
Tiktok: IllumiNative
Reshma Saujani
Website: https://reshmasaujani.com/
Twitter: @reshmasaujani
Instagram: reshmasaujani
Facebook: Reshma Saujani
Tiktok: reshmasaujani
Tamika L. Palmer
Website: http://www.breonnataylorfoundation.org/
Instagram: tamikalpalmer
Go follow all of them!
About the writer: Kella Hanna-Wayne is the creator, editor, and main writer for Yopp. She specializes in educational writing about civil rights, disability, chronic illness, abuse, and Dissociative Identity Disorder. Her work has been published in Ms. Magazine blog, The BeZine, and Splain You a Thing and in 2022, she released a self-published book of poetry, “Pet: the Journey from Abuse to Recovery“. You can find her @KellaHannaWayne on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Medium, and Twitter.
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