A young White student aiming to heighten her family’s awareness about the war on Black lives brought the cause straight to the Thanksgiving dinner table.
University of Maryland freshman Rebecca Malstrom received specific orders from her family to keep “political” discussions at bay over the holiday, but she decided to do just the opposite. Instead, she showed up to Thanksgiving dinner wearing a ‘Black Lives Matter’ t-shirt, much to the shock and disapproval of some of her family members.
“We had a strict ‘no politics’ rule, so when one family member asked me to change, I followed the command and changed… into another BLM shirt,” Malstrom told Mashable.
When you're told to change ur shirt before Thanksgiving Dinner so you happily oblige 🙂 pic.twitter.com/T8pabtK7D8
— jingle becca🎄 (@rebamals) November 24, 2016
The photo of Malstrom wearing the shirt quickly made its way around social media shortly after she shared it on her Twitter page, with many extending invitations for her to come join them at Thanksgiving dinner rather than be subjected to criticism from her family. Although the reaction to her socially conscious dinner table moment wasn’t quite an admirable one at first, the teen says the family was proud of her in the end for contributing to such an important discussion.
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“I love my family to Pluto and back, but we don’t see eye to eye on politics,” she added. “However, they have all shown their support and are so proud of me for standing for what I believe in. Even though not all of my family agrees with my political views, everyone was ecstatic to see how much of an impact I had on the internet.”
Salute to this young woman for continuing to take a stand, even in the face of backlash from her own family.