While lots of people were looking to avoid politics over Thanksgiving dinner, Rebecca Malstrom decided to wear a Black Lives Matter shirt to the family gathering. It may have defied her family, but the internet liked the way she went around the rules.
The University of Maryland student from Baltimore County told Buzzfeed that her family asked her not to wear the Black Lives Matter shirt she was planning to don for Thanksgiving. The extended family doesn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye, and has a “no politics” rule. When the family arrived, she did put on a different shirt — a different Black Lives Matter shift, that is.
When you’re told to change ur shirt before Thanksgiving Dinner so you happily oblige ? pic.twitter.com/T8pabtK7D8
— becca ?? (@beccamals) November 24, 2016
There was a facepalm from her sister, but the family maintained its no politics rule at family dinner. Malstrom doesn’t necessarily think the shirt is political, telling Buzzfeed, “I don’t think it’s really such a radical or controversial statement to say that “a certain group of people don’t deserve to die because their skin is inherently seen as a crime.”
Once she posted on Twitter, Malstrom got lots of invites to other family dinners. The photo got lots of attention. It also became part of her Black Culture class once she was back at school. But Malstrom wanted to make clear that it wasn’t necessarily a tale of defying her parents:
Guys lol stop saying I disrespected my parents, they weren’t even the ones to ask me to change, they support BLM
— becca ?? (@beccamals) November 30, 2016
Rebecca sounds like a real peach.