Activist Naomi Wadler, 11, will be honored at the NAACP’s Women in NAACP (WIN) Empowerment Brunch.
According to a press release, the organization is honoring Wadler for her activism following the Parkland shooting.
“Ms. Wadler rose to prominence after she delivered a powerful address at the March for Our Lives on March 24, 2018, at the National Mall. During which she reminded listeners about the role African American women in play in the fight against gun violence. Wadler has since been featured in various media outlets such as Elle, Huffington Post, BBC, and The Guardian,” the release stated in part.
“Wadler’s work is rooted in passion and social justice. It drove her to lead a walkout of her George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, as a response to the mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida.”
During her speech at the March for Our Lives, Wadler spoke out about the way black women who are victims of gun violence are often not given the same attention other gun violence victims are.
"I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don't lead the evening news," Naomi Wadler said during her moving speech at the event.
"For far too long these names, these black girls and women have been just numbers," she told the crowd. "I'm here to say 'never again' for those girls, too."
Later, Wadler was interviewed for Elle Magazine and doubled down on the importance of including black women's stories in our fight against violence.
"I always noticed how misrepresented black women were in the media, and sometimes how they were just forgotten," said Wadler. "I noticed how black girls who were raped or killed or committed suicide — they didn’t get trending Twitter hashtags, they didn’t get retweeted millions of times, I would tell somebody I felt terrible about it, and they'd be like, 'Who?'"
Wadler will also be a keynote speaker at the NAACP event scheduled for July 15 during the NAACP’s conference in Dallas, Texas.
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