Black women activists will take over celeb Instagram accounts for #SharetheMicNow initiative

If K-pop fans have taught us anything these past weeks, it’s that social media is a powerful platform. Recognizing that power, an impressive list of A-list celebrities, writers, and fashion designers have agreed to hand over the passwords to their Instagram accounts in order to #SharetheMicNow. The initiative will see white women like Gwyneth Paltrow, Mandy Moore, Kourtney Kardashian, Julia Roberts, Diane von Furstenberg, Busy Phillips, Katie Couric and more step away from the ‘gram tomorrow so that Black writers, artists, entrepreneurs, and activists like Rachel Cargle, Tarana Burke, Austin Channing Brown, Monique Melton and dozens more women you may not have heard of (yet!) can use their accounts to spread the message of anti-racism to a wider audience.The #SharetheMicNow initiative is being spearheaded by Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John, authors Luvvie Ajayi Jones and Glennon Doyle, and designer Stacey Bendet who united over the idea that the voices and ideas of Black women weren’t reaching a big enough audience. Their mission statement declares: “When the world listens to women, it listens to white women. For far too long, Black women’s voices have gone unheard, even though they’ve been using their voices loudly for centuries to enact change. Today, more than ever, it is NECESSARY that we create a unifying action to center Black women’s lives, stories, and calls to action. We need to listen to Black women.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

When the world listens to women, it listens to white women. For far too long, Black women’s voices have gone unheard, even though they’ve been using their voices loudly for centuries to enact change. Today, more than ever, it is NECESSARY that we create a unifying action to center Black women’s lives, stories, and calls to action. We need to listen to Black women. This is why we created #ShareTheMicNow. Tomorrow, I’ll be speaking from @nina_tame ‘s account and I’m really excited to be a part of this! The intention of this campaign is to magnify Black women and the important work that we are doing in order to catalyze the change that will only come when we truly hear each other’s voices.

A post shared by Keah Brown (@keah_maria) on Jun 9, 2020 at 10:00am PDT

The organizers and #SharetheMicNow participants are building their activism around four central goals and making plans for a long-term commitment to the fight against racism. They aim to: "Form a social media campaign that magnifies Black women’s lives and stories. To form relationships among Black women and white women—so that our future activism is born from relationships. To create a network of disruptors who know and trust each other [and] To create action that could make change."[video_embed id='1973977']RELATED: Bachelor Nation rallies for a Black Bachelor[/video_embed]Look out for the Instagram takeover tomorrow, June 10. It will see a total of 46 Black women stepping in to use the accounts of 46 well-known white women and, according to the organizers, has the potential to reach 300 million of their followers with messages about the under-recognized work of these important change-makers.[video_embed id='1973100']BEFORE YOU GO: Beyoncé supports Black Lives Matter during YouTube commencement [/video_embed]