The 2016 political campaigns have been littered with celebrity endorsements. Demi Lovato and Katy Perry have joined Hillary Clinton, Charlie Sheen and Mike Tyson stand behind Donald Trump and before the end of his campaign, Bernie Sanders had support from Mark Ruffalo and Dick Van Dyke. One celebrity who also supported Senator Sanders has continued to stand alongside political issues even after Sanders' campaign ended.
Shailene Woodley, most known for her role as Tris in the "Divergent" series, stood with Native Americans in North Dakota to protest the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. She originally protested the pipeline with others in Washington D.C. but joined the Native Americans at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota.
The Dakota Access or Bakken pipeline is set to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois, but the plans have the pipeline running under the Missouri River less than one mile from Native American territory. Native Americans laid claim over the entire country before European settlers invaded. Since then, their land has dwindled to 66 million acres, roughly the size of Colorado scattered around the country.
The Native Americans in North Dakota and their supporters, including Woodley, are protesting the construction of the pipeline near their land due to what may come from the construction. In 2013, there were roughly 7,600 oil spills in the United States, or 20 spills each day. Since oil spills are not an uncommon happening, the protesters fear the pipeline may break in the future, contaminating the local water supply. The necessity of clean, readily-available water became a national issue when California started suffering from a severe drought and Flint, Michigan, experienced contaminated water. If the pipeline did cause oil to leak into the water supply in North Dakota, many Native Americans would once again be displaced from what little land they can still call their own.
Along with standing up for the issues she believes in, Woodley is calling for millennials to use their voices and impact to run the country we call our own.
“We've got to get some progressives in office. We've got to engage millennial voters not only to vote but to run,” Woodley said.
Stars like Shailene Woodley, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Evans have voiced their views on political issues because they understand how important it is to get the word out. They are using their popularity and influence to bring light to issues many Americans wouldn't bat an eye at and we need to start listening.
