Selena Gomez and Lady Gaga, who have a combined Instagram following of 200 million, announced they’ll be handing over their social media accounts to influential leaders and organizations to help amplify black voices and causes. This comes amid calls for social justice and support for the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd, who was killed in Minneapolis police custody.
"Starting tomorrow, I’m giving over my Instagram account to each of the organizations I’ve recently donated to, in an effort to amplify their important voices," Gaga wrote on Friday. "And after I vow to regularly, in perpetuity, across all of my social media platforms, post stories, content, and otherwise lift up the voices of the countless inspiring members and groups within the Black community."
So far Gaga has featured leaders from the organization Community Justice Action Fund, a nonprofit working to end gun violence in communities of color.
Gomez, who became the most followed celebrity on Instagram in 2016, said she had been "struggling to know the right things to say to get the word out about this important moment in history."
"After thinking about how best to use my social media, I decided that we all need to hear more from Black voices," she said. "Over the next few days I will be highlighting influential leaders and giving them a chance to take over my Instagram so that they can speak directly to all of us. We all have an obligation to do better and we can start by listening with an open heart and mind."
On Friday, Gomez featured Alicia Garza, a co-creator of Black Lives Matter, as well as a podcaster and creator of Black Future Labs, a group working to "make Black communities powerful in politics."
Garza posted a video to Gomez's feed, where she articulated the importance of police taking accountability after the killings of black people.
"People are in the streets right now because black people are being murdered by police and police are not being held accountable," she said to Gomez's 179 million followers. "This is a big, big problem. Everybody is taught that if you do something wrong, you have to make it right. And when it comes to black folks and police, there is a dynamic where black people are being murdered — sometimes on camera, sometimes not — by police and police are not having to make it right."
On Saturday, Gomez profiled Jelani Cobb, a journalist at the New Yorker, a Columbia University professor and historian.
Cobb shared a clip from the film "13th" which is available to stream now on Netflix.
"I’m including a clip from the film 13th, which discusses this history in detail and one reading suggestion: The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander," he captioned the short clip. "If we’re to ever change this terrible cycle it begins by recognizing just how deep its roots go."⠀