I’m no fashionista (I’m a comfort-over-fashion kinda gal), but I do love me some good, as I call it, activist wear–messaging on tees, scarves, pins, etc., that I can wear to readings as well as on a daily basis so people know exactly where I stand. Some people even learn about something they’d never heard of. (I most enjoy when I’m wearing, like, LuLuLemons and a long sweater that make me look “safe” to folks who support the status quo, and then they see the shirt lol…) Anyway, here are some of my pieces and links to what I have links for.
One of my favorite shirts is “I won’t be remembered as a woman who kept her mouth shut”. I bought this from a creator on Etsy. As I link it here, I’m considering buying a second one in another color!One of my favorite ways to share messaging is by purchasing a nonprofit’s gear, like this tee with the important reminder that we should be fighting the system that fosters poverty, not the poor people impoverished by the system. You can get yours at the Poor People’s Campaign website. FIGHT POVERTY, NOT THE POOR.This is the coolest sweatshirt–the way Black Lives Matter stretches across the back is so badass. I bought it from a creator on Etsy. A friend bought one as soon as she saw how awesome it is!Another favorite that I wear a lot: I won’t be quiet so you can be comfortable. I’ve worn this to several readings and events. I got this one from Redbubble.This is my newest activist tee: Over-Educated Woman Who Supports Abortion Access.Also new: I finally found a bag that I can add patches and pins to.Immediately following Botham Jean’s murder, I was spending an awful lot of time defending to bigots the innocent man sitting in his apartment getting shot up by a cop. I went onto Amazon, typed in “Botham Jean,” and this shirt came up. It’s no longer available. It’s one of my most threadbare tees at this point. It has both educated people (“Who’s Botham?”) and bothered suburban moms.I love this messaging because it addresses both colonization and xenophobia. I bought it from a creator on Etsy.
This is another favorite of mine. I don’t remember where I got it, but I probably found it by googling Trayvon Martin social justice clothes.
I absolutely love the Innocence Project. I subscribe to their newsletter, which alerts me when there’s a governor’s office I should be contacting to attempt to stop executions, for one. Their merch is available on their website. It has caused people to strike up conversation, mainly to ask what the Innocence Project is.I don’t remember where I bought this Native Lives Matter mask, but there are a lot of different masks out there that have messaging on them. I don’t really use them anymore–I prefer disposable masks.This Black Lives Matter Plaza shirt actually came from a vendor on Black Lives Matter Plaza, which I went to visit soon after the words were painted across the road. It was a glorious sight.Another easy way to display messaging on dressier clothing is to wear a pin. I love both the messaging on, and the design of, this ACLU pin, about divesting from the police and investing in Black communities.I bought this shirt from an author that I met through SCBWI, Kim C. Lee, a Black woman author whose picture book Meet Frankie Jordan is amazing. If you have little ones in your life, you should buy it!On Redbubble, I bought some scarves that make it easy to throw something on no matter what I’m wearing.This shirt shows a single word that covers my overall goal: to dismantle the system. The system that oppresses, colonizes, discriminates… But I don’t love the quality of the shirt, so I’m not going to link it. You can google “dismantle clothes” and there are a bunch.I don’t have a picture of me wearing all of my scarves, but I have this scarf representing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.I wear this shirt because I support the mental health of veterans and want to prevent veteran suicide; however, I won’t link the organization where I purchased it (which I did in memory of a former colleague and veteran who committed suicide) because they now sell blue lives matter merchandise. I will continue to wear this shirt–it’s my go-to shirt for so-called patriotic events–but I won’t further support the company producing it.
You can’t tell here, but for a reading, I was wearing a Sequoia National Park t-shirt because wildfires were ravaging the forest at the time. I was wearing a red ring in support of missing and murdered Indigenous women (the awareness color being red) because at the same time, a missing white woman hiker was getting the media attention that Indigenous women do not receive.
Another favorite mask. Anyone who doesn’t support police being recorded supports police corruption, plain and simple. If you’re convinced police are innocent and law-abiding, then you should support recordings that could exonerate them when accused. I also bought this at Black Lives Matter Plaza because it features the names that people (including myself) shouldn’t forget.This t-shirt was free at a recent conference I attended. I already have been able to speak up for clean water as a basic need and right, as someone commented on the shirt the first day I wore it.I cannot believe my daughter only wears this shirt from Etsy around the house, seeing as she abhors dress codes.Another maskI bought this Pride tee expressing support for the LGBTQ+ community from the ACLU. Unfortunately, it’s too small on me and too large for my daughter to wear comfortably, so I only wear it around the house.I loved these pins at a conference I attended. I can’t find mine, but I took this pic at the conference. Public health shouldn’t require activism and yet here we are.While buying cheesecake from Furlough Cheesecake (YUM), I saw a bunch of great masks and bought this one. Rebuild Black Wall Street.
I also have a cool tee that I don’t have a picture of me wearing. It’s Colin Kaepernick kneeling with a Captain America shield. I love it. Got it on Etsy, I think.
Itās the hair that helps rock the look.āš½