There's an unwritten rule in the PR Hollywood Handbook about remaining neutral in causes of passion. Though in today's 21st century (a large part due in fact to social media) celebrities are throwing this handbook in the fire.
We've talked about a few celebrities on this blog and the causes the stand for and represent. From Miley to Ellen and everyone in between, celebrities have taken a stand in the political circuit, mental health awareness, humanitarian efforts and many more far and in between.
Shailene Woodley is one of those celebrities.
Shailene has often celebrated natural beauty – she claims she doesn't wear makeup or do her hair when she's not filming movies. She also has a very strict organic, farm-fresh, locally-grown diet. She advocated for health and fitness being a priority and less of the glitz and glamor of Hollywood.
So when the Dakota Access Pipeline tornado began to whirl, Shailene was in the eye.
For months now, long before the media even cared about #NoDAPL, Shailene has been standing by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, giving her voice and platform to the natives.
She took many times to social media, calling for people to help, begging for donations of money, but mostly sustenance to help the camps laid out in front of construction crews.
The brutal mistreatment of the protestors went viral, and then Shailene was arrested.
On October 10, Woodley, alongside at least 27 other protestors were arrested and charged with trespassing. Woodley was streaming live on her Facebook page when it happened.
The conversation was chilling.
POLICE OFFICER: Right now you’re being placed under arrest for criminal trespassing, all right?
SHAILENE WOODLEY: It’s because I have 40,000 people watching. So everybody knows we were going to our vehicle, which they had all surrounded and waiting for me with giant guns and the giant truck behind them, just so they could arrest me, so they knew this would happen. I hope you’re watching, mainstream media.
Shailene knew because of her voice and her power the police would target her. She believed that they were trying to silence the protestors.
This is so important for many reasons. We see this type of behavior in several types of movement, in particular the Black Lives Matter protest. Activist Deray McKesson was targeted several times, even being arrested while he, too, was streaming on Facebook.
Celebrities voices carry. When they use their platform to raise awareness, they're shining light and giving a voice to those who don't have it.
People will argue until they're blue in the face that celebrities should focus on being celebrities and "acting" or "singing" or "dancing." But why shouldn't they use the power that they have to help?
Shailene's dedication and projection by using her platform to bring awareness to the mainstream media is being credited to a large part of the #NoDAPL movement and even, the shutdown of construction.
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