Natalie Portman joins the ‘wear a damn’ mask selfie challenge… after nomination from pal Naomi Watts
Natalie Portman joined the ranks of those urging their followers to wear masks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old Oscar winner took to her social media to accept the ‘wear a damn mask’ challenge from nominators Naomi Watts and Padma Lakshmi.
‘I now nominate all of YOU 🙂 Post a pic of yourself in a mask and tag me @natalieportman,’ she captioned a picture of herself in her backyard wearing a charcoal grey facial covering, which protected her nose and mouth.
Staying safe: Natalie Portman joined the ranks of those urging their followers to wear masks to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday
Many of her more than 7.1 million followers flocked to the comment section to praise her post and tag her in selfies of their own, sporting personal protective equipment.
The mother-of-two was initially nominated by the 51-year-old King Kong star, who encouraged her fans to ‘protect others and protect yourself.’
‘Please let’s stay safe! This ain’t political,’ she wrote under a picture of herself in a blue surgical mask, orange baseball cap and an open white button-down.
Power of social media: The mother-of-two was initially nominated by the 51-year-old King Kong star, who encouraged her fans to ‘protect others and protect yourself’
Last month, Portman also spoke up about supporting the Defund The Police movement, after admitting she was initially fearful of it because of her ‘white privilege.’
‘My whole life, police have made me feel safe. But that’s exactly the center of my white privilege,’ the actress explained on Instagram.
She added: ‘The police make me as a white woman feel safe, while my black friends, family and neighbors feel the opposite: police make them feel terror.’
Education: The 38-year-old took to Instagram on Monday, sharing artwork and a number of images and resources that explain the #DeFundThePolice movement in detail
Portman continued that this feeling is ‘for good reason’ adding that, ‘police are the sixth leading cause of death for black men in this country.’
‘These are not isolated incidents. They are patterns and part of the system of over-policing of black Americans. Reforms have not worked’ she furthered.
She added that Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed at the hands of police, ‘is one of the most progressive police forces in the country, having undergone extensive anti-bias training.’
In her words: Portman shared a long essay about her support of defunding police via an Instagram caption
Learning: Portman explained how she had changed her mind to support divesting funds from police departments and admitted she was ‘wrong’ before, adding ‘the system that makes me feel comfortable is wrong’
She said: ‘I am grateful to the leaders who have made us question the status quo.’
‘And who have made us imagine, what a world could be like in which we invested in nourishing people; (in their education, healthcare, environment, shelter)— rather than putting all of our money into punishment,’ she noted.
Educational: Natalie shared some information about the matter on her social media account
Natalie also added resources for how you can enact change in your own city, which includes making demands to mayors and city councils to ‘reject city budgets with expanded & militarized police budgets.’
She also suggested her followers contact their cities’ Independent Budget Office to learn about ‘budget literacy’ while also providing a ‘script’ to use in phone calls and/or emails.
Additionally, Portman shared sources for the information she provided, along with additional reading resources for those who want to learn more.
President Trump and his allies have seized on calls to ‘defund the police’ as a dangerous example of Democratic overreach as the US president fights crises that threaten his re-election.
