Following the death of Nia Wilson, Anne Hathaway has urged white people to ask “how decent are we really?”
Nia was a black teenager who died in California after a white ma stabbed her in the neck.
She was only 18, and her death has sparked widespread protests.
27-year-old John Lee Cowell was arrested in connection with the attack after a day-long manhunt, and while it has not been confirmed that the incident was racially motivated, people believe it is symptomatic of America’s racial inequality.
Anne Hathaway shared a photo of Nia accompanied by an impassioned caption on Instagram asking white people to do more to challenge racism in America.
The actress urged people not to stay silent in the wake of Nia’s murder before succinctly and powerfully stating, “She was a black woman and she was murdered in cold blood by a white man.”
“White people – including me, including you – must take into the marrow of our privileged bones the truth that all black people fear for their lives daily in America and have done so for generations.”
“We must ask our (white)selves – how ‘decent’ are we really? Not in our intent, but in our actions? In our lack of action?”
Anne Hathaway is real af for this
Nia Wilson was minding her business and got her throat slit open that’s the energy America has towards black people that’s what we gotta worry about on top of the bullshit we might have in our personal lives pic.twitter.com/4rFtyyjtac
— mama africa (@thatgirlsalina) July 25, 2018
The actress has received praise online for calling out white privilege and urging people to be outraged about Nia’s death.
One woman tweeted, “Anne Hathaway is real af for this,” before saying, “Nia Wilson was minding her business and got her throat slit open, that’s the energy America has towards black people.”
Nia’s fellow Oakland native, Kehlani, spoke out in the wake of her death slating racial inequality the local law enforcement system promotes.
She also explained how white people can be good allies in the face of racial tragedies saying, “u can be a great ally & hold people accountable for things w/o expressing manipulative guilt.”
when a racially charged tragedy occurs…u can be a great ally & hold people accountable for things w/o expressing manipulative guilt. no1 feels sorry for you. everyone don’t hate you either. just be about this shit forreal if u gon form apologies on your people’s behalf.
— Kehlani (@Kehlani) July 24, 2018
Protests are ongoing following Nia’s tragic death.