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Actress Anne Hathaway took the word “ally” to greater heights after she posted a powerful message honoring the life of slain Oakland teen Nia Wilson.

But in the same breath, Hathaway’s message also took aim at white privilege, accountability and the ineffectiveness of silence when Black lives are at risk.

Wilson was brutally stabbed in the neck by a white man while riding a BART train on Sunday evening. Her short life and her tragic death have again spurred up raw emotion on the ever-present threat of death due to existing in a Black body.

“The murder of Nia Wilson- may she rest in the power and peace she was denied here- is unspeakable AND MUST NOT be met with silence.  She is not a hash tag; she was a black woman and she was murdered in cold blood by a white man,” Hathaway wrote.

 

 

“White people- including me, including you- must take into the marrow of our privileged bones the truth that ALL black people fear for their lives DAILY in America and have done so for GENERATIONS.  White people DO NOT have equivalence for this fear of violence,” she continued.

Hathaway is not the only celebrity who has used their platform and privilege to call out racial violence towards Black men and women in America. She often uses her Instagram to call out social justices. Her Wednesday message is a powerful examination that being a true ally starts with actions such as this. To operate in the function of “allyship” or “allyhood, you must examine and rebuke America’s long storied history of violence against people of color and the privilege bestowed upon you. But like Hathaway, you must also take it a step further and ask this of your white brethren.

“Given those givens, we must ask our (white)selves- how “decent” are we really?  Not in our intent, but in our actions?  In our lack of action? Peace and prayers and JUSTICE for Nia and the Wilson family,” Hathaway wrote.

“Note: the comments for this post are closed,” she concluded in true NeNe Leakes” “I said what I said,” fashion.

Thank you Anne Hathaway for acknowledging that Nia’s Black life mattered.

 

Actress Anne Hathaway’s Instagram Post On Nia Wilson’s Tragic Death Gives White People A Lesson On Humanity & Privilege  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com