Activism

In 2008, Ashton Kutcher founded an organization with his ex-wife Demi Moore called Thorn. Thorn’s ultimate mission is to eliminate the sex trafficking and child exploitation over the internet. Since its debut, Thorn has helped rescue an astonishing 6,000 trafficking victims. In addition, 2,000 traffickers have been caught.

In North Dakota, 27 Indigenous water protectors were arrested in Monday’s action to peacefully occupy a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site. The arrests at the hands of militarized police came less than a day after a federal court of appeals ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux’s request for an emergency injunction against the controversial pipeline project.

While the name, Black Lives Matter, could be perceived as an exclusive club where others aren’t welcome, nothing could be further from the truth. BLM, as the movement is often abbreviated, only wants to level the playing field, and welcomes supporters from any race, creed, religion, gender — anyone — who acknowledges systemic disparities present in the U.S.

Here’s the first one: Hania Guiagoussou is changing the world through apps. Using her coding skills, she has developed projects with social impact; one of which is WaterSaver, a system that adapts to changes in weather and soil conditions, and gives users the ability to monitor and control water sources from anywhere.

As the blatantly rigged 2016 presidential elections prove, we can’t effectively change government — but we do harbor a unique capacity to thwart its ability to manipulate and pit us against one another by refusing to hate. Refusing to blame the undeserving. Refusing to allow fellow, ordinary civilians to be treated as if their existence begets terrorism. Because it doesn’t.