Selena Gomez takes a bold move to show her support on the on-going protests against police brutality and racism in America by allowing prominent Black leaders to run her Instagram account.

"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," said Selena in an announcement on Friday, June 5.

Selena Gomez at the 2019 American Music Awards
(Photo : Cosmopolitan UK/Wiki Commons)
Selena Gomez at the 2019 American Music Awards

As of March, Gomez was listed as the fifth-most-followed Instagram account worldwide. Aside from Instagram's official account, the top rank goes to footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with 209 million followers, while Ariana Grande and Dwade Johnson follow.

Her decision would allow the activists to directly communicate with her 179 million followers over the next few days, according to Buzzfeed.

"I have been struggling to know the right things to say to get the word out about this important moment in history," Selena wrote in her announcement. She thought of how to use her social media, so she decided to let them take over her account because "we all need to hear more from Black voices."

"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," said Gomez. "We all have an obligation to do better, and we can start by listening with an open heart and mind," she added.On Friday, Selena announced that Alicia Garza, a co-creator of Black Lives Matter, to be the first leader to take over her account. "Alicia is taking over my account today!" said Gomez. 

Using Selena's Instagram, Garza introduced herself in a video and thanked the singer for letting her take over her page. She said that "we have all the things to talk about."

She continued saying that people are protesting in the streets because "Black people are being murdered by police," but the latter is not being held accountable for their crime. "This is a big, big problem," said Garza, who runs an organization called Black Futures Lab.

Garza said her organization aims to organize Black communities and train them to make police officers "be held accountable when they do bad things."

Protest in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, in Aarhus
(Photo : Bo Amstrup/TT News Agency/via REUTERS )
People attend a Black Lives Matter march, in solidarity with protests raging across the United States over the death of George Floyd, in Aarhus, Denmark June 3, 2020.

Also, Garza shared more information about Black Futures Lab on Selena's Instagram story. She also posted an article, which further explains about "Black Lives Matter Movement."

Meanwhile, in a shared post, Black Futures Lab found that "87% of Black Census respondents consider police killings of Black people a problem." Garza urged Selena's followers to get involved in society by registering to vote and exercising their rights to vote.

Alicia will continue to update Selena's page throughout the day, while other Black leaders will also get the same opportunity in the coming days.

Lady Gaga follows Gomez' lead

Like Gomez, Lady Gaga announced on her Instagram that she will allow organizations to take over her account to give them a direct platform to communicate with her fans.

"Starting tomorrow, I'm giving over my Instagram account to each of the organizations I've recently donated to, to amplify their important voices," Gaga said.

She also vowed to regularly post stories and contents across all of her social media platforms to uplift and inspire members and groups of the Black community." 

Read also: Mark Zuckerberg Promises Review Facebook Policies While Saying "Black Lives Matter"

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